Newcastle's Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) are said to be 'dubious' about the chances of seeing Saudi Media's Chelsea takeover go through on deadline day which is a contrast to the feeling amongst the Premier League.
With the Friday 9pm deadline fast approaching for consortia to put together their last minute bids that will need to be submitted to the Raine Group, it is understood that Mohamed Al Khereiji consortium's £2.7billion offer was submitted earlier this week and it is expected to be the highest offer out of all the bidders.
Al Khereiji and co will soon find out though just how successful their bid has been when the Raine Group reveal the three or four consortia shortlist.
READ MORE: What John Terry has done on Chelsea takeover deadline day amid Saudi Media's £2.7billion bid
Gary Neville and Ian Wright are among pundits who have raised their concerns of seeing more Saudi involvement coming into the Premier League from overseas but that does not appear to be a factor in the eyes of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and according to what Nigel Huddleston has said on the matter.
Speaking in the United Arab Emirates, the Prime Minister said: "Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are key international partners…We have long, long standing relationships with this part of the world and we need to recognise the very important relationship that we have."
However, the Independent's Miguel Delaney has provided an update from Newcastle owners PIF (Public Investment Fund) with it understood that they are 'dubious' and doubtful that the non-government affiliated group will get through the Premier League's Owners and Directors test.
In contrast, GOAL's Nizaar Kinsella doesn't believe this will be much of an issue at all due to the nature of the said consortium that are aiming to take on the Chelsea ownership with vast amounts of funding.
"Saudi Media, there is absolutely no state involvement," he said on Football Daily's extra time podcast.
"There is a parent company above it called Engineer Holding Group and then that also exists within another parent group called MBS. MBS is an investment fund which is a massive media group that is dominant in the Middle East and they have a little bit of Saudi government involvement.
"If you follow the paper trail up the tree, eventually you have Saudi money but I think that's how businesses operate in Saudi Arabia. I was told that connection that was mentioned with the government directly is not true. But if you follow the money around the company, you can eventually find public money around and PIF, the owners of interest, that would be a conflict of interest.
"I don't think there is enough for the Premier League to block it. It's less controversial than Newcastle's bid. Their owners test isn't the most stringent and it has come under criticism lately, so I don't think it's controversial enough to not make it through that process. It isn't actually as controversial as Newcastle's bid because it's not actually linked to Mohamed Bin Salman- it's quite far removed by the government."
football.london's chief football writer Alan Smith discussed similar issues on the latest show on Carefree Chelsea, but concluded: "It will be up to the Raine Group to decide. I'm not massively certain that the Saudi bid will triumph."
