NEWCASTLE United have added to their board of directors with the appointment of influential Jacobo Solis.

Solis, who is PIF's head of Europe direct investments, has been directly involved with the Magpies since the takeover in October 2021.

United say Sols is "closely aligned with the club's strategy and plans for the future". And he has now officially joined the board of directors. It follows the appointment of Roger Thornton last October.

Prior to joining PIF, Solis was an investment banker in the United States and was previously a lawyer in Spain.

He is also a member of the boards of LIV Golf, E1 Series, the all-electric powerboating championship, and South Korean engineering company POSCO E&C, all of which have received investment from PIF.

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Meanwhile, Isaac Hayden is set to leave Newcastle to join Portsmouth. Reports on the south coast suggest it will be a loan deal. Despite not playing for Newcastle for more than three years, the midfielder still has 18 months to run on his current contract at St James' Park.

He's never featured in Eddie Howe's plans and has spent time on loan at Norwich, St Liege and QPR over the course of the last few seasons.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho is short in midfield, with current first choice duo Andre Dozzell and Freddie Potts in need of support. And Hayden ticked the boxes for the Championship strugglers.

Mousinho said: ‘The two players, Doz and Pottsy, have done really well playing in there together.

"Those two have played pretty much every game since we had the turnaround. I’d mark the Hull game as the start of the turnaround for the season, we’d only won one game previously.

"When we’ve played poorly the two have of them have probably gone with the team, but they’ve also had some outstanding performances as well and been the heartbeat of the team.

"Look at the Swansea game, in particular, I thought the two of them were outstanding. So there’s some positive things coming from them in the middle of the park.

"We’ve got a fairly good balance in the middle of the park. We’ve got Marlon (Pack) in there with a lot of Championship games, though he’s playing centre-half now.

"Freddie is relatively inexperienced at Championship level, but has played a lot of league games. ‘Doz has played a huge amount of this level and Mox (Moxon) not so much, but has come in and done well when called upon.

"At the minute the balance is fine, but if the right player crops up and we think it’s the right thing to do then we’re going to look at doing it."