Whatever the issue or situation, Saudi Arabia has always been on the way to the Premier League. And there are many issues linking English football with Saudi football, especially after the acquisition of Newcastle by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Just a day after The Athletic reported that “Premier League teams will vote on a proposal to ban the transfer of players between linked clubs” following rumors about a possible loan of Rúben Neves of the Magpies, a vote that will take place Today, the British Prime Minister himself, Rishi Sunak, confirmed the creation of an independent football regulator “to protect the future of English clubs.”
The one known in the British Isles as IREF, born from the White Paper draft in 2021 after the collapse of the Super League and which will be launched from 2024, has the objective, among many others, to impose more stringent tests on owners of. the clubs and improve the test for the owners and owners to avoid the economic problems of the clubs, as well as limit the creation of new clubs in the state. In other words, a significant gain in the power of the British Government, to the detriment of the Premier League, in English football, which may have an impact on the arrival of possible new investors.
However, although the Government and the English league have always suggested that they will work together to protect English football, the latest investigation by The Athletic reveals that they do not put too many obstacles in the way of Saudi Arabia in St. James’ Park: “ Emails sent by the UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia say that, in a conversation with a UK Foreign Office official, the Premier League ‘agreed to resolve differences’ with PIF (Public Investment Fund). Saudi Arabia) so Newcastle’s acquisition can ‘go ahead’.”
https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1726873312708710662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Although the Premier League insists that the British Government, although it has the possibility to help, did not influence the approval of the purchase of the Magpies, this medium points out that there were two meetings with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Affairs with the Premier League. before the ad. At the same time, an official from that ministry wrote that, although critics talk about ‘sports whitewashing’ after the Saudi acquisition of Newcastle, “it actually represents an opportunity to ‘expose’ progress of Saudi Arabia” and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself intended to provide advice on the claim to promote a different image of Saudi Arabia in the United Kingdom.
