INEOS Football's chief executive Bob Ratcliffe admits the energy company considered buying Newcastle United, before completing its takeover of Nice.

Ligue 1 club Nice were bought by chemicals firm INEOS, founded by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, for £88.77million last month.

"In fairness you look at Newcastle, and we looked at a lot of clubs in the Premiership, after the sort of noise around Chelsea, people talked to us about a high proportion of clubs," he told BBC Sport.

"Obviously people talked to us about Newcastle as well. But again you come back to a valuation in the hundreds of millions and it's very difficult to contemplate."

When asked if the Premier League was now off INEOS' radar, Bob Ratcliffe added: "I think for the foreseeable future it is.

"We've got a three to five-year project in Nice now and that's going to keep us very busy."