CBS reporter Ben Jacobs claims Liverpool’s takeover talks with the Qatari consortium are only in the ‘exploratory stages’.
According to The Mail on Sunday, Fenway Sports Group have entered talks with two Middle East-based consortiums over a £3billion takeover of the Merseyside club.
Representatives of groups from Saudi Arabia and Qatar have expressed their interest to Mike Gordon about potentially buying the club.
Although both consortiums are understood to be private companies, it is reported that they both have close links with their nation’s ruling families.
This follows big news from earlier in the week, in which Saudi Arabia’s Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal encouraged private bids for both Jurgen Klopp’s side and Manchester United.
However, Jacobs claims these talks are not as advanced as previously reported. Instead, he believes the potential Qatari investors are ‘only in the thought process’.
Qatar investment in very early stages
Qatar Sports Investments (QSi), a subsidiary of the state-run sovereign-wealth fund in Qatar – the owners of Paris Saint-Germain, would certainly cause a stir if they came in for Liverpool.
Therefore, news that the Qatar-based consortium is privately owned will come as a slight relief to Reds fans.
However, the suggestion that the group would still have links to the state sparks uncertainty and could result in hostility towards a proposed move.
Merseyside has never been a place which has advocated for Newcastle United’s owners, Public Investment Fund, due to a number of things they have been associated with.
Therefore, this rhetoric would surely be reinforced if a similar situation appeared to be on the cards at Anfield.
Whilst supporters have varying opinions surrounding FSG, the fact John W. Henry and co aren’t associated with a state comes as a modern-day bonus to the club.
Although the Qatari consortium publicly don’t associate, suggestions against this will make a proposed deal hard to back for fans.
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