talkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan has hit back at claims he was hypocritical about Chelsea and Newcastle and their financial situations.
Jordan has previously spoken about Newcastle and its commercial ties with Saudi Arabia, particularly how transfer deals could play out between the two bodies.
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As the Magpies sought to comply with FFP rules, the club was lambasted by many for using the Saudi Pro League, funded by Newcastle’s PIF owners, to help secure its financial position.
However, Chelsea have also had FFP issues and it recently emerged that the club had sold two of its own hotels to a company owned by the Blues’ Clearlake Capital group to help meet the regulations.
And some Newcastle fans believe Jordan didn’t give Chelsea the same treatment as their club – something the talkSPORT pundit has denied.
Jim White read some texts from Magpies fans live in Jordan, including: “Newcastle selling a player to a Saudi team owned by the same people would also be an asset (like hotels). Come on Simon, that’s complete hypocrisy. “.
Another wrote: “Why is Chelsea doing absolutely fine but Newcastle selling players to Saudi Arabia is a scandal? You gave Chelsea a pass but Newcastle came for a stick.”
Jordan defended himself and said: “I don’t think that’s quite what I said.
“I criticized the Saudis in context as potentially useful idiots for the Premier League because clubs are able to sell them what they don’t want in an attempt to get out of problems, including
“Context is everything. It is much easier to establish a fair market price for a property than the fair market price for a player.
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“Often, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
“If you decide a player is worth £50 million because he suits your commercial objectives, you really don’t need to stump up a lot of money.
“If you go for real estate, you’re going to support it a little more substantially. The argument is similar but different.
“Context is everything, I think if you frame the conversation that we were having about the Saudis and how the Saudis are going to destroy English football and this, that and the other, I think my response to the era was based on: “Hmm, I’m not sure I’m particularly enamored with that idea.”
It is suggested that Newcastle and Chelsea may have to sell players this summer to meet Premier League financial rules.
Conor Gallagher has been heavily linked with an exit to Stamford Bridge, along with Armando Broja, Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Cucurella.
And with the Blues keen to continue their spending, which has topped £1bn during Clearlake Capital’s reign, it will force them to offload fringe players as soon as possible.
Newcastle find themselves in a similar position, with Alexander Isak linked with an exit, although Eddie Howe has insisted that will not happen.
Asked if the Sweden international could leave, Howe replied: “We’re trying to build a team, we’re trying to grow everything, really, upwards and to do it as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible. possible, you have to keep your best players, otherwise you enter a different period where you enter transition and you have to start again.
“Your best players, the elite ones, are so hard to recruit, they’re so hard to find, so when we get them, we have to try to keep them.”
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