I spoke to my contact in PIF & know about 'major' £1bn Newcastle United project

As it stands, around 30% of PIF’s portfolio is tied up overseas. This includes Newcastle, who they own a 85% stake in following their majority takeover in October 2021.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Magpies’ non executive chairman and PIF governor, announced last month that the sovereign wealth fund are aiming to cut its international investments to 18% to 20%.

Newcastle supporters had feared this would affect their club, however Wyness has offered some reassurance after claiming to have spoken to his contact in PIF.

“I spoke to my contact in PIF about this, what it really means is 30% of their overseas investment may come down to 18% or 20% but the assets they have already invested in such as Newcastle are not really going to be part of any of those cuts,” he told Football Insider. “It will not impact Newcastle at all.”

Wyness then went on to speak about the future of St James’ Park. Newcastle are exploring ways either to expand on the current site or build a new state-of-the-art stadium elsewhere.

United are set to announce their next steps in early 2025 and Wyness hopes PIF will fund” a major re-development project that will change the face of Newcastle for many years to come”.

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He said: “The big project at Newcastle right now that everyone is looking at is the stadium redevelopment. That could be an over £1billion project and if PIF bank roll that, which I still believe they may well do along with some financing from the Reuben brothers.

“That’d be a massive help for the North East of England so I don’t see anything but still reasonably news for Newcastle.

“This is the challenge, do you get a stadium elsewhere for less money or do you look at a multi-use facility that is more than just a stadium but gives a whole heartbeat to the city?

“If they can do it, I think the redevelopment of St James’ Park into a multi-use facility would give a whole new life to that city centre for the next 50 to 100 years. It would be so well received in the North East.

“The Saudi owners and PIF would be really applauded for doing something like that and we’ll have a tangible benefit from getting a nation state involved in a football club that would be very hard to argue against.

“I’m hoping they go for a whole thing and do a major re-development project that will change the face of Newcastle for many years to come.”