Liverpool are looking for new owners – but may have bitten off far more than they can chew.
The Reds were put up for sale by Fenway Sports Group back in November, with the American owners looking for investment. Part of the reported reasoning for floating a sale was the purchase of Chelsea by Todd Boehly for around £4 billion, with FSG valuing their own asset similarly.
There are groups said to be interested in Liverpool from Qatar and the US, though one former chairman who oversaw the sale to FSG has now claimed that Liverpool won't be able to command nearly as much money for their club as Chelsea went for.
"I would question whether they'll [United and Liverpool] get the kind of prices they floated," Sir Martin Broughton told The Telegraph.
"With Chelsea – and I think Arsenal and Tottenham would fall into the same category – the people we spoke to tended to be overseas billionaires who had a pad in London and the pad in London was in Knightsbridge or Kensington, Chelsea or something.
"So when they came to London, they went to Chelsea. They were football fans, and they were Chelsea fans... they're not going to be bidders for Liverpool or Manchester United because they've got a pad in London and they're not planning to move their pad to Manchester or Liverpool."
Now, recent reports have indicated that the Merseysiders could look for minority stakeholders rather than selling the club as a whole.
"Liverpool will be best off taking in co-investors to ensure the current owners can work alongside them and be satisfied that these are the right people," Broughton continued.
"As I understand it, they [FSG] are interested to see what the market reaction is. They could be willing sellers. They could be willing to have investors, but if they carry on owning it, that's fine too. That's my understanding of their position."
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Could Liverpool's takeover be in doubt following rumours of Manchester United's?
The search for a new owner is intensifying as wobbly form continues: goalkeeper Alisson says that the Reds can't afford to think about Champions League football right now, while club legend Jamie Carragher has called his former side "shambolic".
Meanwhile, Liverpool's plan is still to swoop for Jude Bellingham over the summer.
