Ritchie makes blunt admission over £300m Saudi takeover

Matt Ritchie insists he has ‘not really looked’ at the impending takeover of Newcastle United.

The winger was quizzed on the imminent deal during an interview with In The Box, where he questioned whether much would change should a deal be concluded.

Mike Ashley has agreed a deal worth £300million to sell the club to a Saudi-backed group, with the takeover currently being signed-off by the Premier League.

And while many are expecting sweeping changes in personnel, Ritchie isn’t convinced that things will drasticallychangeintheshort-term.

“I've not really looked at it butyouhearrumoursofatakeover,” he admitted

"Idon'tthinkthatinfootball with financial fair play rules, can things change overnight? Will I see it change? I don't know, if there are changes.

"I'm not too concerned about that sort of thing - the main thing for me is I have really enjoyed my time at Newcastle and we have some really good young players.

"Withtheteamthatwehave got, with the top six, and even seventh or eighth are too far away. For a team like Newcastle if we can finish in the top 10 and maybe we can sneak into Europe."

Ritchiewasalsoquestioned on his relationship with Steve Bruce–whosefuturelooksuncertain, given a number of bigname managers have already been linked with St James’s Park.

Butthewinger,whorecently signed a new deal, has nothing but positive words to say about Bruce.

“He's a good guy. He's like one of the boys really and you can imagine him when he was 25or30beingthesameaswhat weare.Heandhisstaffarenice fellas. They put on enjoyable sessions."

"He was brilliant with me when I was injured and I haven't got a bad word to say about him."

Mauricio Pochettino and Jorge Jesus are among the names to be linked with Tyneside, with Bruce unsure on where he stands amid the takeover talk.

The Premier League has been offered the chance to restart 9,000 miles away – in Australia. Fixtures were suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

And agent Gary Williams has put together a proposal to playtheremaining92gamesin Perth, according to The Sun.

Williamssaid:“I’vehaddiscussions with contacts at Premier League clubs, and they like the idea.”