Part Liverpool owners RedBird capital have made an offer for AC Milan, according to reports. There might be a relationship here.
This comes from Sky News. Liverpool owners RedBird capital have apparently bid £850m (€1bn) to buy AC Milan. The Italian giants are up for sale and welcoming bids.
Now, RedBird are only part-owners of Liverpool, of course. They bought a 10% stake in FSG last year for around £750m, giving them a 10% stake in the Reds by default.
Now it appears they want a club outright and see the seven-time champions of Europe as an opportunity. It would mean Liverpool and Milan have a relationship of sorts, even if RedBird lack power with the former.
Liverpool and AC Milan
It’s a fairly unique one – you don’t typically see any kind of ownership between two elite clubs like this. It should be said that RedBird capital already own French club Toulouse, too – they’re building a portfolio here.
As for how this is possible, UEFA rules would allow for RedBird to own a stake in two Champions League clubs as long as one of those stakes isn’t controlling. Owning 10% of FSG doesn’t give them any real voting power at Anfield, meaning this shouldn’t really be an issue for them.
In fact, as we wrote at the time, the RedBird capital deal with FSG didn’t affect Liverpool much at all. It simply handed a lot of cash to the Reds’ owners – it didn’t go to the club.
Another interesting side-note here is that RedBird apparently thought about bidding for Chelsea earlier this year. That’s according to ESPN, though they eventually didn’t get anywhere – if they ever did bid.
RedBird clearly see massive potential in European football investment, though. Liverpool are just a part of that and if they do buy AC Milan, the Reds will hold an interesting relationship.