PIF could inadvertently stop Newcastle signing 26-year-old who Howe and Ashworth love
Newcastle United are looking to sign James Maddison from Leicester City this summer, but face competition from Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs are looking to bounce back after a dismal campaign. They were once Newcastle’s closest challengers for the Champions League, but fell away after a 6-1 thrashing at St James’ Park and failed to qualify for Europe completely.
Now they have got a new manager in Ange Postecoglu, and he is the man tasked with guiding Tottenham back up the table. And to do that, he could turn to Maddison.
It has been reported that the 26-year-old is more interested in signing for Spurs than Newcastle, but the Magpies are certainly not out of the race. The big issue at the moment appears to be the price, with Leicester demanding a fee of £60million for the England international.
That is too much for Newcastle, and it is likely too much for Tottenham too. However, they could soon see their transfer budget increase with a little help from an unlikely source.
PIF club to bid for Tottenham Hotspur superstar
PIF are the majority shareholders at Newcastle, while they also now own 75% of four clubs in Saudi Arabia. This has led to multiple major names making the move to the Saudi Pro League, with the likes of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Neves set to join Cristiano Ronaldo in the Middle East.
And the investment is not stopping there. One of the clubs that PIF own is Al Ittihad, and they are reportedly planning a bid for Tottenham superstar Son Heung Min.
According to ESPN, the Saudi club are going to offer £51million for the South Korean forward, as they look to tempt another high profile name away from the European game.
While Tottenham will likely have no interest in selling Son, a deal with Al Ittihad could create a very strange scenario.
That would result in them receiving £51million from a PIF owned club, which they would then be able to reinvest into their squad. That could then lead to Tottenham gazumping Newcastle, another club owned by PIF, in the race to sign Maddison.
Missing out on Maddison would be majorly disappointing for the Magpies, with Toon chiefs Eddie Howe and Dan Ashworth both big fans of the attacking midfielder.
It is an unlikely situation, but one that would have Newcastle fans asking a lot of questions of the owners if it became a reality.