The Saudi Binladen Group, whose chief executive is Osama's half-brother, Bakr bin Laden, and which was founded by their father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Laden, is said to be considering a £300millionplus deal to buy the club and then carry out a lucrative redevelopment of St James' Park and land surrounding the ground.

Although the Bin Laden family publicly distanced itself from the founder of Al-Qaeda years before he claimed responsibility for the September 11 atrocities in 2001, any takeover would be football's most controversial yet, as well as taking the number of foreign-owned teams in the Premier League to 10, or half of England's biggest clubs.