Newcastle staff left seriously annoyed after transfer rumour they’ve been hearing recently

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While Premier League rules mean Newcastle United can sign Ruben Neves on loan in January, that does not necessarily mean that they will.

A vote on a temporary ban on clubs loaning players from clubs with the same owner failed on Tuesday, amid rumours that Newcastle could look to borrow Ruben Neves from PIF-owned Al Hilal for the second half of the season.

A ban was almost put in place to stop this from happening, but it is now a possibility. If Newcastle want to, they are free to try and bring Neves to St James’ Park. It would be a deal that would seriously annoy their Premier League rivals, but everyone might be up in arms over nothing.

That is because there are no guarantees that Al Hilal would just let Newcastle take the 26-year-old simply because they are funded by the same group. They have their own priorities and agendas, while it has been reported that he will not be leaving the Saudi Pro League club in January.

Secondly, Newcastle might not even want to sign Neves, which is what the Athletic have reported on Wednesday.

Newcastle are not even seriously looking to sign Ruben Neves

According to the Athletic, Newcastle are not discussing a move for Neves in January. They state that the midfielder does not feature highly on the club’s list of potential signings.

The Athletic add that people within Newcastle have been left exasperated by the attempts to impose a ban, as they are not even actively trying to sign Neves.

That is the most comical thing about this proposed ban. The rumours surrounding Neves have completely snowballed because of who he plays for, even though he is just a player who was on the club’s radar.

And now that the ban has not been imposed, all of the outrage is about how Newcastle will be able to do whatever they want and sign whoever from PIF’s clubs in Saudi Arabia. In truth, it would be a massive surprise if the Magpies bring in any player from the Saudi Pro League.

A deal for Neves never felt likely – there was just a lot of noise because of the controversy. If Newcastle were serious about the Portugal international, they would have got him in the summer before his move to Al Hilal.