Sold at £2.2m, now worth £90m: Ashley had a big NUFC disaster on "unstoppable" wizard - opinion

Saudi Arabian consortium PIF completed their takeover of Newcastle United earlier this season and have offered the fans a chance to believe in a bright future on Tyneside.

The new owners invested in January to make new signings, including England international Kieran Trippier from Spanish giants Atletico Madrid.

This transfer showed Magpies fans that they can now realistically think about top-class players making their way to St. James’ Park in the coming years as PIF have flexed their financial muscle and ambition already.

However, Newcastle had a chance to sign a genuine superstar in the making whilst Mike Ashley was at the helm, only for him to fumble it. Current Liverpool forward Mo Salah opened up on a potential move to the club earlier in his career.

Speaking to Ahram Online in 2011, the attacker said: “Newcastle will soon make an official offer to sign me for one season. I don’t think Contractors will refuse to let me play in the English Premier League.

“It’s a dream for any player to play in one of the strongest league competitions in the world. I want to play abroad, I think this would be my next step.”

It remains a mystery as to why the deal did not go through and he ended up joining Basel for in 2012 for a fee Transfermarkt claim to be £2.25m, starting off his career in Europe. He spent time in Switzerland before enduring a difficult spell with Chelsea in England and then signed for Italian giants Roma in 2015.

Salah scored 34 goals and provided 22 assists in 83 matches for the Serie A side, attracting the attention of Liverpool. The Reds snapped him up in the summer of 2017 and neither party has looked back since as he has become one of the best attackers in world football whilst playing at Anfield.

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