Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan admits his aim is to help the Magpies become as valuable as Premier League heavyweights such as Chelsea after snubbing other clubs in favour of purchasing the north east outfit. The Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) gave an in-depth interview in his native Saudi Arabia on Monday, where he outlined the reasoning behind the Newcastle takeover almost one year ago to the day.
It is no secret Saudi's sovereign wealth fund could have purchased almost any football club in the world, with Al-Rumayyan admitting different offers arose before Mike Ashley's project landed in his lap. However, with bigger outfits demanding huge amounts of capital for a minority stake and limited control, the Toon chairman admits buying 80 per cent of Newcastle made more financial sense to the Investment Fund.
Speaking to Radio Eight, Al-Rumayyan said: "Why did we choose the English Premier League? Because it is the greatest league that exists in the world. No other league competes with it. Any team from the 20 can beat the strongest team.
"Before Newcastle we had offers from Italy, France and also the UK. One UK club offered us 30 per cent for £700m and without any management.
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"Amanda Staveley brought Newcastle to us and said 'we like it so much, we would like it to be with you'. The Reuben family came and said 'we would like to be partners in the investment'. So they have skin in the game.
"We bought the team for £350m, compared to 30 per cent [of the unnamed club] which is £700m. Then you have Chelsea who sold for £3.5bn. So my aim now is to make Newcastle go from £350m to £3.5bn, that's 10 times the money. If we had bought Chelsea, for example, how much would it bring us in profit?"
Al-Rumayyan has attended Newcastle matches at St James' Park since joining the boardroom on Tyneside last October and has clearly been taken in by the passionate support of the Geordie faithful.
"Newcastle United is the only club present in one city, meaning there is no bigger club than Newcastle," he added. "There are one million in the area and they are all present. We have 52,000 seats in the stadium and tickets are always sold out."
Friday marks 12 months to the day since the Saudi takeover was given the green light by the Premier League after months of uncertainty. Newcastle take on Brentford this weekend, with Wor Flags and the club expected to mark the occasion before the St James' Park clash.
