Leaked WhatsApp messages from the former Newcastle United minority co-owner Amanda Staveley suggest that Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, was heavily involved in the takeover of the club, it was reported on Sunday.

Staveley, who stepped down from Newcastle’s board in July after selling her shares, brokered the £305m deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), helping it over the line in October 2021 after the Premier League received legally binding assurances of the separation of the Saudi state and the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.

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