Newcastle United had drawn up a list of five 'prime' targets they would have considered had their Saudi Arabian-backed takeover gone through.
The Magpies claimed towards the beginning of September that the Premier League had rejected a takeover bid made by PCP Capital Partners, the Reuben Brothers and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). based on the Owners and Directors test.
This was despite the fact that the club claimed they had provided the Premier League with 'overwhelming evidence' to show that the PIF should have passed the test.
Club statement.#NUFC
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) September 9, 2020
It could have been a very different summer transfer window had the takeover gone through. The likes of Kylian Mbappe were linked when talk of the takeover first began (because why not?) but the Chronicle have now revealed a shortlist of five players who would have been targeted.
Now-Manchester City duo Ferran Torres and Nathan Ake were both considered 'prime targets'. Torres joined the Sky Blues from Valencia for an initial €25m, while Ake signed from Bournemouth for around £41m. Another player who was also considered a prime target was former Lille forward Victor Osimhen.
Of course, the striker ended up departing the French club and joined Napoli during the summer for an initial €60m after he managed 18 goals and six assists in 38 games for Lille during the 2019/20 season.
Elsewhere, there were also two 'Hollywood' names on the shortlist in Gareth Bale and Ciro Immobile. The former had been frozen out at Real Madrid under Zinedine Zidane, but was finally allowed to depart the club and has now re-joined Tottenham on loan. As for Immobile, he managed a simply outstanding 39 goals and eight assists in 2019/20, and had drawn interest from Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti in the process.
Newcastle have actually had a fairly productive summer window, signing the likes of Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser, Jamal Lewis and Jeff Hendrick. While the takeover did eventually collapse, the Magpies have made a strong start to the 2020/21 season, sitting in ninth place with two wins and a draw from their first four Premier League games.
Source: 90min
