Speaking exclusively with Football FanCast, former England international Steve Howey has stated that he does not want to see Newcastle United turn into the next RB Leipzig.

This follows reports by The Athletic that claimed that Joseph DaGrosa could look into purchasing the Toon should a deal to buy Southampton fall through.

DaGrosa is thought to have told Saints majority shareholder Gao Jisheng to lower his asking price for the south coast side, or he’ll take his and Kapital Football Group’s business elsewhere in the Premier League with the Magpies and West Ham two possible options.

Gao wants £160m for his shares in the St. Mary’s natives after paying between £180-200m for an 80 per cent controlling stake in the club back in 2017, while Mike Ashley values Newcastle at £300m.

Kapital are looking to purchase a mid-table Premier League side as they see it to be the foundation of a potential football empire, akin to the City Football Group consisting of Manchester City, New York City FC and Melbourne City FC among others, or Red Bull’s consisting of RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.

When asked if he’d liked to see Newcastle become a franchise in the same mould, Howey told FFC:

“Me personally? Probably not. You want them to be the club that's Newcastle and they'll buy players as like, well they haven't done over the last God knows how many years, just like any other club.

“You see these foreign owners with these clubs and foreign [partner] clubs, and they loan out to this club, but it's part of that club [that] is actually partnered with this club and that club, like Udinese and Watford and all that kind of thing that went on.

“I have to be honest, it's not my thing. But that kind of thing, it’s so much speculation, really, and it's like: ‘Well, he's off to Southampton but if that one falls through, then he's got all this’ and I think you just think: ‘Well, if you're not your first choice, well, then what's the [point]?’

“You want somebody that's like: ‘I want Newcastle. It's as simple as that. And when I get them, I'm gonna do everything that I can to make them a superpower,’ i.e., a Chelsea-esque or a Man City-esque and spend a vast amount of money on players, not somebody that's like: ‘Oh, well, if I can't have Southampton and I suppose I could maybe go for Newcastle.’ That doesn’t sit right with me."

Dominik Szoboszlai became the latest player to join RB Leipzig from RB Salzburg when the rumoured Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur target joined the Bundesliga side for an initial £18m in January.

RB Leipzig also signed Dayot Upamecano from Salzburg for €10m (£9m) in 2017 and have now agreed to sell the Chelsea and Liverpool target to Bayern Munich in the summer, after the Bavarian powerhouse triggered his €42 (£37m) release clause.

Watford previously used their relationship with Udinese to exploit a loophole in Football League rules to sign 10 players on loan from the Serie A club, who shared an owner with the Hornets in the Pozzo family, during a failed promotion push during the 2012/13 season.

AND in other news, a £47k-p/w colossus is weighing up his future at Newcastle United…