Newcastle United could have transfer 'blocked' as Premier League clubs to vote on controversial rule change

Premier League clubs will vote on whether to implement a temporary ban to stop teams loaning players from clubs under the same ownership. The vote is set to take place on Tuesday November 21 and would be immediately put into practice ahead of the forthcoming January transfer window.

In practice, this move would effectively stop Newcastle United from loaning players from any of Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, who also own 80% of Newcastle United, purchased controlling stakes in these four sides earlier this year.

Ruben Neves, who moved from Wolves to Al-Hilal during the summer, has recently been linked with a potential switch to St James’ Park during the winter transfer window. However, if a temporary ban is voted in by Premier League clubs, then Neves would be unable to move to Newcastle United from Al-Hilal on-loan when the transfer window opens. 

The Magpies’ sporting director Dan Ashworth was recently asked about whether United could be stopped from signing players from Saudi Arabia - and the former Brighton man acknowledged that the club could face hurdles: “The current rules and regulations say there is nothing to stop [Newcastle doing deals with Saudi Pro League clubs]. Currently. 

“But there is a potential that the various different organisations will look at things across related parties and what you can do to acquire players at a fair market value, which have already in place for a quite a while.”

As mentioned, the vote on the issue takes place on November 21 and will require 14 of the 20 current Premier League to vote for it in order for the rule to be implemented.