US billionaire James Pallotta flirts with Newcastle takeover as he CONFIRMS Premier League interest and name-drops Toon
AN American billionaire has dropped a huge hint he is considering buying Newcastle.
James Pallotta, the former owner of Roma, revealed how his next business move could be in the Premier League.
Controversial Toon owner Mike Ashley has been hoping to sell the club since the collapsed takeover of the Dubai-based company fronted by multi-billionaire Sheikh Khaled last year.
The Saudi company pulled out of the deal blaming the prolonged process and the circumstances relating to coronavirus.
Pallotta has been linked with Newcastle since last summer after selling Roma for £533million.
He has a huge personal wealth thanks to a personal and professional investment portfolio.
Pallotta, 63, runs a private investment company called Raptor Group and is also part of the management group of NBA side the Boston Celtics.
Show he won’t be short of the £300m required to buy Newcastle.
Speaking to the Athletic, Pallotta name-dropped the Toon for his next potential project and highlighted their ‘great fanbase.’
He said: “I do think that if there’s a place that makes sense for me, it’s the Premier League.
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“It’s pretty difficult for an American — and I do think we actually did a lot of good stuff — but I do think it’s difficult in a lot of countries to deal with the cultural stuff, all kinds of stuff. There are just all kinds of variables.
“I think there are interesting teams in the Premier League that have great history and it would be nice to see them getting back to it. The Newcastles of the world. Great, great fanbase.
“Those are the kind of things I think would be interesting to be a part of with a good group (of investors) and there’s more rationality there (at league level) in many ways, right?”
Pallotta is likely to hold fire to determine Newcastle’s fate before making any investment.
Steve Bruce’s side are locked in a relegation battle and sit three points above Fulham who occupy the final place in the drop zone.
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