Paris Saint-Germain owner Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) has held talks with Tottenham and are is reportedly interested in taking over Manchester United and Liverpool.
United and Liverpool were put up for sale by their respective American owners in November. The Glazers started the process of seeking outside investment in the Red Devils, either as a partial sale or a full-scale takeover, while Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group are looking for a similar deal.
The decisions followed the sale of Chelsea by Roman Abramovich to a consortium fronted by Todd Boehly in May. The Blues were sold for £2.5billion and the deal encouraged the Glazers and FSG that it was the time to offload their respective assets, partially or fully.
CBS Sports reported on Sunday that PSG’s owner, QSI, is looking to become a minority investor in a Premier League club. That desire saw QSI chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi meet with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in London last week for ‘exploratory talks’.
QSI is keen to expand Qatar ’s investment in football following the World Cup. It plans on building a multi-club ecosystem that can rival the Abu Dhabi-backed City Football Group, which owns Manchester City, among a host of other teams.
In a fresh update, Bloomberg reports that United and Liverpool are being considered by QSI, who would consider full takeovers or minority investment in the clubs. QSI is reportedly still committed to funding PSG, but wants to diversify and extend its involvement in European football.
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As well as PSG, Qatar already owns a 23 per cent stake in Portuguese side Braga. Al-Khelaifi, who is chairman of the European Club Association and a powerful player in the continent's football, is also engaged in talks with three investors over minority investment of up to 15 per cent in PSG.
QSI’s interest in Premier League investment would rival Abu Dhabi’s ownership of Manchester City, as well as the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which took over Newcastle in October 2021.
The news of QSI’s strategy sees a continuation of two recent trends: Middle Eastern interest in the Premier League and multi-club models. City Football Group already owns 10 clubs outright, including Manchester City, New York City and Melbourne City. The Red Bull group, which owns RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg, is the other most prominent example.
United said in November that the Glazers would “consider all strategic alternatives, including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions”. Avram Glazer is understood to have held talks with Saudi investors during a trip to Qatar for the World Cup last month.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have been the subject of interest from the Middle East before. FSG said in November that “under the right terms and conditions, we would consider new shareholders if it was in the best interests of Liverpool as a club”.
