Lutz Pfannenstiel has admitted he was contacted by Newcastle United regarding a director of football job.
The St. Louis City sporting director was invited to take up the position with the Magpies.
However, he turned down the offer to take up the role with the MLS team instead.
It would have been a director of football job under the Saudi ownership, which never took over the club.
Speaking with Goal, Pfannenstiel said: "There was contact with England. Newcastle were in contact, but the takeover from Saudi Arabia made it difficult to make decisions.
"The whole thing had dragged on for a long time, so that one could not have planned in the medium term. The takeover would have been the basic requirement for more intensive discussions."
He said: "The Saudis withdrew the offer, so it's all talk. You don't know what talks there were in the room. All of this is speculative. However, should it come to the takeover one day, Newcastle will certainly not only want to play in the Premier League.
"Then you want to play Champions League football, first stalk the big clubs and then attack. This is a process that cannot be mastered overnight and not even within a year."
