Newcastle owners now in talks to buy Brazilian club as Amanda Staveley’s prediction nears fruition

Newcastle United are in talks to add Brazilian club Santa Cruz to a multi-club ownership model, as revealed on the Brazilian programme Leo Medrado.

Former Magpies co-owner Amanda Staveley revealed in March at the Bloomberg Power Players Summit that the club would be interested in developing a multi-club ownership model.

Ricardo Rocha Filho – the son of Santa Cruz legend Ricardo Rocha – revealed that his father is involved in negotiations as the club looks for new owners and investors.

Santa Cruz used to compete in the Serie D, the fourth tier of Brazilian football, and currently plays in the Campeonato Pernambucano, the top flight of the Pernambuco state football league.

Newcastle were acquired by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in 2021 and they have enjoyed some degree of funding since then.

PIF governor and Magpies chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan announced in October that international spending will be cut, with the investment percentage decreasing from 30% to 20%.

Saudi will now focus on their domestic economy, with the proportion of their foreign investment set to go down, but Newcastle will not be affected, as the investment plans for established portfolio companies to remain the same.

While things have slowed down in recent months as far as investing in Newcastle goes, a multi-club ownership model remains on the agenda.

Doubts about the speed of the PIF project at Newcastle continue to swirl, with investment in the squad and progress on a new stadium and training ground slowing in recent months.

It is unclear whether the Saudis have plans to make any significant improvements to Newcastle, but plans are in place to complete another takeover in their bid to emulate the City Football Group.