PIF are splashing the cash, but not at Newcastle United.
It has been a tough summer on Tyneside. Anthony Elanga joined Newcastle for £55million, but he is the only senior arrival at St James’ Park.
Major names have passed the Magpies by, while there is now fear that Alexander Isak could leave Newcastle United.
It is an extremely messy situation. The Newcastle United owners have a lot of work to do to prepare the club for the new season, but time is slipping away.
All the while, PIF are providing one of Newcastle United’s Premier League rivals with a fresh financial boost.
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty ImagesPIF-owned Al-Nassr sign Joao Felix from Chelsea
PIF have helped Chelsea already this summer. Enzo Maresca’s side won the Club World Cup, which was funded by PIF.
The Blues bagged £84million in prize money, and have now received another cash injection from the Saudi investment fund.
It has been announced that Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr have signed Joao Felix from Chelsea, one year after he moved permanently to Stamford Bridge.
Al-Nassr, who are owned by PIF just like Newcastle United, are paying £44million in total for Felix. He is swapping London for Riyadh, where he will become teammates with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Marcelo Brozovic.
Newcastle United are not PIF’s top priority
It is another PSR boost for Chelsea, while Newcastle United continue to tread carefully.
While Newcastle United fans only care about Newcastle United, PIF have more on their plate. In the world of football, the Magpies are not their only concern.
They are also trying to grow the game in their own country of Saudi Arabia, which means investing huge sums of money in high profile players like Felix.
The caveat of that is they are often spending huge sums of money on players from the Premier League, which works against another club they own in Newcastle. It was recently rumoured that Darwin Nunez could move to Saudi Arabia, at a time when Liverpool want to buy Alexander Isak.
While Newcastle are not PIF’s top priority, that will surely not be allowed to happen.