While the Premier League continues its exhaustive (to say the least) owners’ and directors’ tests for the Saudi-backed consortium hoping to buy Newcastle, there’s many aspects of the club that remain in limbo.

One of the most important to Newcastle fans is the fate of local lad Matty Longstaff. Last week it was revealed that Serie A’s Udinese had offered young Matty a five-year deal worth £30k/week to move to the North East of Italy after his contract expires this month.

Lee Charnley finally countered with a £20k/week offer after refusing to budge on his initial offering earlier this season. The reports are that the 20-year-old has rejected this improved deal.

The Chronicle have published some comments from Alan Shearer who implores Matty to stay at Newcastle.

This is what the Newcastle legend had to say:

“If he leaves at the end of his contract, it will be a great shame because he’s a local boy and you don’t know what’s around the corner with the looming takeover.

“For someone who has started just six league games, it would be a huge gamble to move to Udinese and I really hope it doesn’t backfire for him.

“If the figures we’re hearing are correct then Newcastle have put a very good offer on the table.

“I understand their stance because you’ve got a 20-year-old who has not played much and wasn’t even in the equation at the beginning of the season.

“They feel they’ve offered him a lot of money, with increases going up and up each year, which he or his agent clearly doesn’t think is enough.

“And if Longstaff has already agreed to move, there’s little more they can do.”

We’ve not heard that Longstaff has agreed to the move. If he has, that would be a massive shame. The hope is that he’ll wait until this takeover saga comes to a conclusion before making his decision.

When that will be is just not clear at the moment. There’s so much for the Premier League to weigh with this decision, not to mention three separate investors are going through the tests.

Hopefully, the league is just being ultra-cautious in anticipation of the backlash they’ll receive from those who want this takeover to fail. However, the length of time it’s taking could have some unfortunate consequences for Newcastle, even if the acquisition is approved.

Matty running around the Stadio Friuli in the black and white stripes of Udinese would be a bitter pill to swallow.