Why ex-Sheffield United owner may have put off Saudi billionaire buying Sheffield Wednesday | OneFootball

Hopes of a brighter future would've increased with the mega bucks that the Middle Eastern mogul could've brought to Hillsborough.

Simon Jordan has claimed that Saudi Arabian billionaire and boxing kingpin Turki Alalshikh may have been put off buying Sheffield Wednesday by the former Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah.

Clamors for the blue and white club of the Steel City to be sold have never been more intense. The operation is falling apart at Hillsborough. All the while, their owner, Dejphon Chansiri, is offering up little to suggest that a transfer of power is anywhere near close to completion.

He wants £100 million for Wednesday, according to Alan Nixon - a figure that isn't far off what their rivals, the Blades, were bought for by an American consortium led by Steve Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy back in December. They took over the red side of the Steel City for a reported £105 million from its former Saudi Arabian owner, Prince Abdullah.

One of his compatriots, Alalshikh, a man who has used his estimated $2.8 billion net worth to assert himself into the forefront of the boxing world, was reportedly interested in buying the Owls and reinstating some form of Middle East ownership in Sheffield.

Turki Alalshikh put off of Sheffield Wednesday by previous Sheffield United owner

The 43-year-old spoke to Jordan, the former Crystal Palace owner turned radio presenter, about the opportunity that may be ready for him at Hillsborough, but the talkSPORT host has revealed that talks between the two Saudi Arabians led to Alalshikh's interest in the Owls subsiding.

"In this instance, at Sheffield Wednesday, I've spoken to various people," said the former Palace chairman on talkSPORT. "I've spoke to Turki about buying Sheffield Wednesday.

"I don't think that he felt that his mate, who owned Sheffield United [Prince Abdullah] had the nicest experience in Sheffield. He described Sheffield in certain ways that I possibly won't say on air."

Jordan had previously revealed that the club's location in the north of England was an issue for Alalshikh, who was linked with taking over two of Wednesday's southern-based Championship rivals: Millwall and Southampton.

"But the fact of the matter is that it is a great football club," continued the talkSPORT personality. "Chansiri has spent a lot of money in there, but he seems to not get the zeitgeist.

"The challenge is, if you open football up for business, globally, you bring people in who aren't as invested as you would like them to be. Of course, the exceptions to that would be people like Sheikh Mansour [Manchester City's owner], but they have a different attitude.

"They are using football for different reasons. They're doing it for an influence play and a sort of power play, and all that goes with it. So they will really make things successful."

Sheffield Wednesday need someone like Turki Alalshikh

Alalshikh's cooling interest in the club is a real blow for Wednesday. He would've got involved with the club for similar reasons to why Mansour got on board at Man City, and he has had a revolutionary impact on the club as a whole, plus its surrounding areas.

The finances that he would've brought to Hillsborough could've resolved the ongoing fiscal issues in the blink of an eye, and may have prevented Wednesday from having to pawn off so many of their assets.