Fenway Sports Group have confirmed that they, led by Michael Edwards, have plans to buy a new club in addition to Liverpool, and thus speculation has begun as to which club they will land.
Football from the inside He was among those who claimed earlier this week that FSG was already in talks with Toulouse over a takeover. The French club, who Liverpool played against in the Europa League this season, is interesting for several reasons.
First and foremost, it is owned by RedBird Capital, which in turn owns 11% of FSG shares. Secondly, they are the size that FSG might be looking at when buying their next football club – not big enough to participate in European leagues regularly, but they have the goal of settling down in Ligue 1. Under RedBird's ownership, they will also be aiming for a sustainable goal. A model that FSG can attest to.
But this takeover will not happen, if we are to believe it Echoes of Liverpool Football economics expert, Dave Powell, who usually has good sources for what's going on at FSG. He writes that Toulouse is not on the list of relevant clubs.
“FSG won't make a snap decision when it comes to which club they want to buy, and there are many points to consider when choosing their club – from geography to demographics in the local area, from fan opinion to excitement.” Team looks, and a number of other things. So there will be no rush.”
Portugal or France?
FSG have previously shown interest in securing a Brazilian football club, but it should no longer matter. South America shouldn't be completely out of the question, but Powell wrote, as The Athletic did earlier in the week, that France and Portugal are cruising as interested nations. Belgium was also mentioned as an external country.
“France is a well-known route for African talent coming into European football, while Portugal has had great success in bringing in players from Brazil, Argentina and others. The Netherlands and Belgium have also proven to be good markets for developing players.
Among other things, Brighton benefited from the fact that owner Tony Bloom also has Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium in his portfolio. Kaoru Mitoma was allowed to develop for a year there before coming to the Premier League and making life miserable for many right-backs.
Manchester City owns Spanish club Girona as a partner in the City Football Group. The hugely talented Savio has impressed for the surprise squad this season and will be ready for Pep Guardiola's side in the summer.
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