Newcastle United chiefs included a nod to their ideal buyers in their annual accounts by name-checking Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
Toon owner Mike Ashley will go into the autumn braced for an anti-competition legal battle with the Premier League while his arbitration case is set to unfold in "early 2022".
With Amanda Staveley, the Reuben brothers and major players Public Investment Fund waiting on the sidelines for the court battles to reach a conclusion, the club's hopes of a sale are mentioned within the accounts filed to Companies House.
In the director's report, the club say: "Legal proceedings are ongoing between Newcastle United Football Club Limited and the Premier League.
"The club has challenged the Premier League's decisions concerning a proposed takeover that involves the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
"The proceedings are arbitrual, governed by Section X of the Premier League's rules and are in confidential nature.
"Neither party is entitled to comment on them save with the other's consent."
In 2020, the Premier League took three months to process the owners and directors tests before informing Newcastle and Staveley's consortium that they could neither approve or reject the bid.
Consquently, the Premier League offered an arbitration process before Staveley and co left the room on the negotiations.
Since then Staveley has confirmed the group would be interested in returning to the table if Ashley wins his court cases.
Within the accounts Newcastle were not able to include the proceeds from a new sponsorship deal with Castore.
But the club say the deal is a "multi-million partnership" and confirm that Castore will operate the club's retail operations.
