Former Argentine footballer Maxi Lopez has emerged as a new potential investor into Birmingham where boss Lee Bowyer is on the brink.
Brum’s Chinese owners have stopped attending home matches this year since a huge protest at their 2-1 win over Barnsley in January. The Championship club have slipped to 20th after just one win in eight games with boss Bowyer admitting he is in the dark on plans for next term, which is the final year of his contract.
The club remains owned by Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited under Chinese majority shareholder Paul Suen. He wants to retain his stake in Birmingham to keep his company’s listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange but is now speaking to investors about selling a stake worth up to £30million.
These include Lopex,38, who used to play for Barcelona, and Argentine businessman Christian Codoma, who is the owner of Maxco Capital in London and runs Global Stars Management in Hong Kong. The pair are being advised by former Birmingham City vice-chairman Sammy Yu , who introduced ex-owner Carson Yeung to the club and helped him before Yeung’s fall from grace for money-laundering, which saw him later jailed for six years in March 2014.
Brum are considering giving Lopez and Codoma seats on the board and a two-year agreement to run the St Andrews outfit. But former Watford owner Laurence Bassini is also keen on buying into Birmingham and is trying to arrange funding. Bassini was chairman of Watford from 2011-2012 before selling up to the Pozzo family.
His reign ended in controversy after Bassini, who was previously declared bankrupt, called police when a trusted member of Watford's staff refused to hand over the keys to the club safe. He then sent gloating text messages to Hornets legend Graham Taylor after the club lost a play-off final at Wembley in 2013.
A Football League commission later banned Bassini for three years from serving as a director of any club after a panel ruled the Stanmore businessman was "dishonest with the League and his fellow directors" and slammed his "secrecy and deception". But it hasn’t stopped Bassini from trying to own another club more recently after holding talks with the likes of Oldham and Charlton previously.
He also tried to get control at Bolton in 2019 in a protracted takeover attempt which collapsed just before the start of the season when he failed to provide proof of funding. It led to Bolton owner Ken Anderson blaming Bassini for time-wasting as the club battled a High Court winding-up order.
But Bassini remains keen on returning to football and has been eyeing Championship Birmingham. Brum have been under foreign ownership since David Sullivan and David Gold sold up in 2009.
