What Newcastle officials have been doing in Saudi Arabia amid Premier League rule change

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Despite their incredible wealth, Newcastle United continue to be hamstrung by the Premier League.

We recently saw the January transfer window come and go without any major arrivals at St James’ Park, with profit and sustainability rules ensuring that the Newcastle United owners could not splash the cash.

The Magpies need to bring more money into the club in order to spend more, which means either selling players or agreeing commercial deals.

The latter is more appealing, but that represents its own problems for Newcastle. Shortly after the Saudi-backed takeover in 2021, Premier League clubs changed the rules on sponsorship.

Suddenly, any deal with a company that was affiliated with the owners had to be approved and proven to be worth fair market value. This was done to stop Newcastle agreeing over-inflated deals with PIF-linked companies in Saudi Arabia.

That has not stopped partnerships with the likes of Sela, Saudia and Noon, with the Magpies agreeing fair deals with each of them.

But now the rules are changing again, and Premier League clubs can now be punished for associated party transactions if they agree a sponsorship deal that does not represent fair market value. The aim is to stop state-funded clubs bending the rules, and it is a motion that Newcastle United and Manchester City voted against.

But while the Magpies are not going to challenge the new rule, it is not going to stop them going about their business in the Middle East.

Newcastle continue to look for Saudi Arabia sponsorship opportunities

That is according to iNews, who state that Newcastle officials have recently been in Saudi Arabia to discuss new commercial deals in a bid to increase the clubs revenue.

They state that the Magpies have some ‘big potential deals in the pipeline’, which is certainly very interesting.

But Newcastle will need to be very careful with any new sponsorship deal that involves partners in Saudi Arabia. If they are perceived to be overstepping the mark, it could result in punishment.

However, that feels unlikely. While Newcastle have done deals in Saudi Arabia, they have all represented fair value so far. The club have tread the right side of the line, which is why these Premier League rule changes are so infuriating.

It is understandable why rivals do not want Newcastle to buy their way to the top and take their place at the table, but the attempts to suppress them are incredibly see through.