‘A lot of interest’: Saudi Arabia minister speaks out on private bids for Liverpool

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Saudi Arabia sports minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, says the country will back any private bids for Liverpool and Manchester United. It creates an interesting situation.

Both Liverpool and Manchester United are up for sale right now. It’s a unique situation – two of the biggest clubs on the planet both available to purchase. Even if both eventually end up with minority investment, it’s unprecedented.

Few groups are capable of bidding for them, however. We’re talking billions of pounds here, and that limits who can even entertain the idea. One group, though, is state-backed groups.

There are three major groups in European football. Paris Saint-Germain with Qatar, Manchester City with Abu Dhabi, and Newcastle United with Saudi Arabia. The latter is now in the spotlight.

That’s because the Saudi Arabian sports minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, claims their government would back ‘private’ bids for either Liverpool or United.

“From the private sector, I can’t speak on their behalf, but there is a lot of interest and appetite and there’s a lot of passion about football,” he told the BBC.

“It’s the most-watched league in Saudi and the region and you have a lot of fans of the Premier League.

“We will definitely support it if any [Saudi] private sector comes in, because we know that’s going to reflect positively on sports within the kingdom.

“But if there’s an investor willing to do so and the numbers add up, why not?”

Saudi Arabia interest in Liverpool

We’ll be honest – we’d rather not have state interest in Liverpool. That’s not necessarily the opinion of every fan but it’s never sat right with us. FSG may want to move on but hopefully they sell to a different kind of party.

Especially as this one would ask so many questions. The Saudi government already back Newcastle United – now they’re willing to lend support to Liverpool or United? There’s more conflict of interest there than we know what to do with.

A bid from a ‘private’ party is the only way Saudi Arabia could technically make it work, of course. But that sounds like such a messy situation that we’d want Liverpool well clear.