Gary Neville has admitted that the 'horse has bolted' when it comes to takeovers like the buyout of Newcastle United but the pundit wants owners to 'stay within their lanes'.
Neville once again called for an independent regulator to be introduced last month after the PIF, who own Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Al Hilal and Al Nassr, entered negotiations to buy N'Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea as part of the relaunch of the Saudi Pro League. Newcastle's majority owners, of course, have long-standing business links with Chelsea counterparts Todd Boehly and Jonathan Goldstein.
Neville went as far as to say there should be an 'instant embargo' on transfers to Saudi Arabia until the Premier League looked into the ownership structure at Chelsea and whether there are 'beneficial transfer dealings that are improper'. However, ChronicleLive previously established that specific reassurances were provided by Chelsea's owners to the Premier League that the PIF would not, and could not, be an investor in the club in the future.
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When it came to the subject of overseas investment into the Premier League, though, Neville stressed that the top-flight should not prevent such wealthy investors from buying clubs because 'that horse has bolted, we have to accept that'.
“What we need to do is, when our international owners are here, or British owners, we have to make sure they stay within the boundaries and stay within their lanes," he told the i. “That’s the most important thing to me.
"As much as I’ve got a gob, I’m not in control of who comes into football in this country and I have to say the most important thing is how they’re controlled once they’re here. Not, if you like, how they get in."
