Liverpool have been discussing the potential for a partnership with La Liga side Elche, according to reports in Spain.
Reds owners Fenway Sports Group have been looking at ways they can cast their net out wider in football and have looked at the potential acquisition of clubs both in Europe and South America over the past year, seeking ways to grow their portfolio and influence.
Reports from Spanish daily sports newspaper Diario AS have this week suggested that FSG have been exploring a collaboration with La Liga side Elche, claiming that the owner of the club, Christian Bragarnik, visited Liverpool last week to discuss potential avenues that could be explored between the two following a visit from Reds chiefs to Spain earlier this year.
A takeover deal for Elche isn't something that is believed to be on the agenda at present, with Argentinian Bragarnik's having been at the helm only since the end of 2019. It has been reported that creating stronger partnerships with bigger clubs has been something that he has been looking to establish for some time. Bragarnik, who owns Elche through his Score Club 2019 vehicle which has its headquarters in Elche, purchased the club in December 2019 for €20m, a sum paid over eight years.
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AS report that the purpose of Bragarnik's visit was to 'negotiate different forms of collaboration between the two entities', with potential for loan deals between the two clubs to be put in place, with grounding in La Liga football something viewed as beneficial to the development of some players looking to make the step up to the first team from the Academy. AS claim that Liverpool representatives travelled to Alicante some weeks back and visited the Martínez Valero stadium to learn about the club, the facilities, the way of working and the plans for Bragarnik's project, which could offer a path which has been described as a 'projection channel for interesting players who may acquire value in the market'.
FSG, it is understood, are continuing to monitor the South American football market, especially in Brazil where a change in governance of the league and the control that clubs have offers opportunities for growth ahead of a new media deal being agreed. It also offers the chance for Liverpool to have an 'in' when it comes to transfer policy in South America and sourcing new talent. The Liverpool owners were understood to have looked at Cruzeiro before a deal was agreed by Brazil legend Ronaldo to purchase the club in December.
One of FSG's major partners, RedBird Capital Partners, are the 85 per cent majority owners of French second division side Toulouse, a club who won promotion back to French football's top flight last week, two years on from its relegation and the arrival of RedBird. The US private equity firm, which acquired 11 per cent of FSG in March 2021 in a $750m deal, also has a small stake in Malaga with the potential for a full takeover at some stage in the future, although the Malaga deal remains bogged down in the courts due to complex legal wrangling between former owners the Al Thani family and shareholders the Blue Bay hotel group. Malaga have been under the control of an administrator for the best part of two years as the legal situation rumbles on, with RedBird unlikely to make any move until the legal situation resolves itself, and even then there are no guarantees.
The ownership of Toulouse, who have former Liverpool sporting director Damien Comolli serving as chairman, is entirely separate to the Reds and there is no FSG involvement or partnerships that exist between the two at present. Toulouse are controlled through one of RedBird's business vehicles, RedBird FC.
But FSG and RedBird do share a common vision when it comes to adding more sports teams to their portfolios, with RedBird themselves looking at more teams they could add to their growing empire. RedBird looked at more than 80 clubs across Europe after two years of fact finding before landing on Toulouse.
FSG are expected to spend 2022 and 2023 seeking and acquiring new sporting properties, potentially in football and almost certainly in basketball and are in the mix, the ECHO understands, to be the ownership group to take on any NBA expansion franchise that may get the green light in Las Vegas over the next two years.
