Newcastle takeover: Rio Ferdinand urges club to sign Raheem Sterling as part of English core | OneFootball

It'll soon be spending time at Newcastle United after the Premier League club's £305 million takeover from a Saudi-led consortium.

The Magpies now have the wealthiest owners in world football and it's not even close. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is worth £320bn, £100bn more than the Qatar Investment Authority that owns Paris Saint-Germain.

In England, Newcastle have a significant financial advantage over everyone else.

The club's fans are extremely excited about what's to come and it's not hard to understand why.

This is the type of investment that will transform the club in massive ways, with major trophies surely to arrive at St James' Park in the coming years.

We could see the purse strings loosened in the January transfer window and it'll be interesting to see who arrives at the club.

Who will Newcastle sign?

Fans will have to wait to see players of the profile of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland brought in, but Newcastle should still be able to attract players who can push them towards the top of the Premier League table in the immediate future.

A wishlist is probably being drawn up right now, and former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has weighed in with some suggested targets of his own.

Ferdinand believes Newcastle should be ambitious and build a core of English players, with Raheem Sterling, Declan Rice and Jesse Lingard three of the five players the ex-defender has named as ideal options.

"I’d be going to try and make like a mad couple of signings, like huge, that I think would be gettable,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube show Vibe with Five.

"I’d be looking at people like Raheem Sterling. Raheem Sterling’s not playing regularly, I’d go ask him the question. I’d go and ask Declan Rice, 'What’s going on?'

"Them two would be the first two on my list, and I’d go all out to go and get them. And then I’d be trying to get people like Jesse Lingard, who’s in and around the Man United squad.

"It’s unrealistic until you ask the question. I’d be going out there to get answers from these types of players and then you work your way down your list."

Wow. Imagine those three arriving in Newcastle.

Ferdinand continued: "[Kylian Mbappe] is just dreamland, but there’s people that would be on the periphery of the Man United squad, the Chelsea squad, the City squad. I’d be looking at players like that, I’d be all over those types of players."

'I’d be going mad for young, English talent'

That would be a real show of intent, and Ferdinand also thinks the club should go after the best young talent England has to offer.

The six-time Premier League winner added: "And then I’d be wanting to unearth some young talents probably from around the world that you think would be able to mix and blend in to that.

"Do you know who I’d go out and get now as well? I’d be going mad for young, English talent. The best young, English talent.

"Max Aarons, the right-back at Norwich, Under-21 player. Conor Gallagher, straight in there. Get him in there. They’re two names, straight away, young kids who I’d say they’re coming into Newcastle. I want young, English talent.

"Newcastle are an English club, I’d want a young core of English players."

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