August 1 – Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group are in talks to add La Liga side Getafe to their multi-sports club portfolio, despite the LaLiga club’s president previously stating “we’re not for sale”.
Fenway have been looking to expand with a multi-club football group for the past 12 months and have previously come closing to acquiring French side Girondins de Bordeaux as well as reportedly being interested in LaLiga’s Malaga.
Getafe have been in the shop window for some time and have leapt to the top of Fenway’s acquisition targets amid speculation that Getafe’s president Angel Torres has dropped his valuation of the club from £160 million ($210 million) to £100 million ($135 million).
Torres said he is “not in a hurry to sell”, with the Spaniard “determined” to deliver his promise to renovate Getafe’s publicly-owned Esadio Coliseum, a project he hopes to complete by 2028.
Torres downplayed the status of the talks earlier this month in an interview with Spanish radio station COPE, amid talk of interest from FSG, but that does not appear to have put FSG off.
In 2024, FSG’s then newly-reappointed chief executive of football, Michael Edwards, announced his intentions to build a multi-club portfolio.
“One of the biggest factors in my decision is the commitment to acquire and oversee an additional club…I believe that to remain competitive, investment and expansion of the current football portfolio is necessary,” said Edwards. That ambition has still not been achieved.
In the US Fenway owns the Boston Red Sox (MLB), the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL), and holds stakes in Nascar’s RFK Racing and Boston Common Golf (TGL).
The multi-club ownership model can be fraught with difficulties. City Football Group, owners of Manchester City and 11 other clubs worldwide, are the leaders in the area. Chelsea have effectively utilisied their sisterhood with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, which have essentially become a platform to develop Chelsea’s extensive list of talented loanees not yet ready for the first team.
But there can be problems with the multi-club model, most recently exhibited by John Textor and his former ownership position in Crystal Palace that saw them lose their Europa League qualification status in favour of France’s Lyon due to a breach of UEFA’s club owner control and influence rules.
Getafe have a mixed reputation in the UK after taking on the disgraced Mason Greenwood from Manchester United in 2023.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1754111430labto1754111430ofdlr1754111430owedi1754111430sni@g1754111430niwe.1754111430yrrah1754111430