It was one of the huge talking points last summer and also a massive factor as to why many thought the Newcastle takeover never got passed through, and Liam Kennedy from the Shields Gazette believes that it's still an issue for the potential new owners.

When everything appeared to be going smoothly in the takeover process, Bein Sport got involved and sent a letter to the Premier League urging them to reject any potential deal involving Saudi Arabia as they were breaching piracy laws and illegally showing football which was owned by Bein.

Along with the dispute over separation and who would really be making the decision at Newcastle United, piracy failed to ever go away and was ultimately one of the downfalls which led to the Premier League stalling over a decision.

Talk of piracy emerged recently once again with it still being a big factor, even if a legal battle is won by Mike Ashley, and Kennedy has confirmed that it remains a big problem for the potential buyers as he explained to Football FanCast:

"Piracy is something that's never really gone away, it's been a constant throughout this and without second-guessing, do we really know how much the Premier League were going to use that against the buyers? My personal opinion is, I think once they linked the Saudi state to PIF, I think piracy then becomes a huge stumbling block in any deal."

If Newcastle are to be taken over by PCP Capital Partners, it appears that an already huge uphill battle has increased drastically if piracy will still be a big issue, even if the arbitration goes in the club's favour.