Newcastle United won't rule out loan moves from Saudi clubs, confirms Eddie Howe

Saudi Arabia's PIF currently owns the Magpies

Newcastle United head coach Eddie How has decided to prohibit sending players on loan to Saudi Arabia. Similar to four other teams in the Saudi Pro League, the Private Investment Fund of the nation owns the bulk of the Magpies.

Howe claims that as long as it serves the club's best interests, Newcastle United are open to dealing with teams in the Middle Eastern nation.

That depends on whether that is the correct thing for the Magpies, he said. We'll constantly put our own interests first.

As they continue to pursue elite European players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, who recently joined Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad, respectively, it is evident how ambitious and financially powerful the Saudi teams are.

'I don't think the fees have been excessive necessarily — maybe the wages have, which is making it attractive to players,'

'Depth [of squad] is huge for us this year. With the competitions that we're in, having three games a week, we need to be able to rotate the team, but to be able to bring in players who are of equal standard.

'That's what we're looking to do, but we know we have a lot of work to do that. Players are expensive these days. We're working within FFP guidelines, which is very difficult for us. We might need to be creative, but we're trying to look at every avenue we can to make the club stronger.

We have a very strict budget that we're trying to work within. Always with FFP, there are certain things you can be creative on, but we don't have a huge budget to work with.

'At times there have been frustrations and difficult days. We know the challenges that we face. Through the summer I've been through all the emotions.'

Sandro Tonali, an Italy midfielder, cost Newcastle £52 million, and the club is also looking into trades for Harvey Barnes, a winger for Leicester, and Tino Livramento, a defender for Southampton.