Liverpool and Chelsea In Possible Takeover Talks

By: Daryl | January 23rd, 2009

Looks like Liverpool could be getting new owners in the very near future, with Kuwaiti billionaire Nasser al Kharafi buying the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett for either £400m or £500m, depending on which papers you read.

Either way, the figure is less than the £600mil al Kharafi reportedly offered last July.

Hicks and Gillett seem keen to sell, especially as the £350m bank loan they took out needs to be repaid, and there’s an expensive new stadium to be built. The BBC put it best:

BBC Sport understands that even though the relationship between Hicks and Gillett has been troubled, they may be united in their desire to sell at the right price.

Nasser al Kharafi apparently has a fortune of around £9 billion from “a variety of enterprises including construction, banking, engineering, telecommunications and fast food.” So good news for Liverpool fans in terms of the seemingly neverending financial arms race.

And as yet another billionaire businessman enters the Premier League, the original big spender may be about to leave. Roman Abramovich hasn’t been seen lavishing too much money or attention on Chelsea lately, and now a consortium of German investors are making ambitious noises about taking the club off his hands. Here’s what Falcon Equity managing partner Holger Heims had to say:

“I don’t believe anything is ever not for sale if you come up with the right price. It’s not about trying to buy a football team but about a business. You don’t make money because 11 guys run around the pitch, you make money because of all the other commercial aspects that go with a football club, particularly real estate and television rights.”

So clearly he loves the beautiful game?

I continue to be amazed that businessman want a piece of Premier League football. Surely Abramovich has proven that you can’t really make money on a football team. All you can do is sink your personal fortune into transfer fees and wages and hope to put something in the trophy cabinet.

In this respect, potential billionaire owners might be relieved to hear about European football’s proposed new spending limits.