In recent years, Premier League clubs have resorted to selling unwanted players to Saudi Arabian clubs for high transfer fees in order to break even and raise funds for quality signings.
However, that was not the case at Newcastle United, despite strong links with Saudi Arabia. The Premier League side shares direct ownership with Saudi Arabia’s top four clubs: Al Hilal, Al Ahly, Al Ittihad and Al Nasr. However, they have not been able to take advantage of the situation and sell some players to those clubs for high fees.
This is because Newcastle are prohibited by UEFA rules from profiting from the sales of any players involved.
Chief financial officer Simon Capper told the Gazette:
“We sell players worth £1 for £10 million and in the Premier League we make a profit of £9.999 billion, but in UEFA we make zero profit. We make no profit at all.”
“It’s a bit of a frustration for us[that other clubs are doing lucrative business with Saudi clubs]. Our competitors can sell players to Saudi clubs for huge profits and then bank it for various compliance calculations.”
UEFA rules are certainly disadvantageous for Newcastle when it comes to transfers, and this has been the case for manager Eddie Howe in the past as well. It’s clear they want to put together an ambitious team, but regulations make it difficult to send unwanted players to Saudi Arabia or pay big fees to bring in top-level players.
It remains to be seen whether Newcastle can find a way around these regulations and build a strong team in the future.
