Mike Ashley will never get a better chance to get his asking price for Newcastle United than this summer.
Having watched from afar as the Magpies clinched their Premier League place, Ashley was in the stands at Fulham for the 4-0 win over the Cottagers that sealed 13th place.
At that stage, it seemed straight-forward to simply give Rafa Benitez the contract he wanted and then let him loose in the transfer window.
But during his talks with the United boss the former Real Madrid manager was told the club had to "live within their means" and a subsequent delay has followed.
Takeover talk has promptly resurfaced but with relegation no longer a factor for budding new owners and a clear run at the transfer market, this is the best time for the Sports Direct magnate to sell up.
Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan's interest comes at a point when Newcastle are in the Premier League and have a world class manager in Rafa Benitez at their disposal - or at least for another month.
One of the reasons why Peter Kenyon's bid fell through for the club in January was down to the fact that United were in the bottom three of the Premier League.
Relegation seemed like a very real prospect at the turn of the year and some interested groups wanted to test the water with a knockdown price.
They felt that that Premier League price tag on United's sale wasn't fair as Championship football could have quickly followed.
That's no longer a factor, but as Benitez is trying to argue with Newcastle chiefs, there's still work to be done.
Benitez has stated behind the scenes that he's tired of fighting relegation.
He believes United can have a much more comfortable campaign if the right things are done this summer and moving forward he feels that investing in the Academy can save the club cash in the future to provide squad players.
Ashley is hoping to get between £350million and £400million and has again asked interested bidders to put their money where their mouth is.
