Liverpool currently have no concrete interest from parties looking to buy Fenway Sports Group’s share at the club, according to football finance expert Dave Powell.
The Lowdown: FSG sale?
It was reported back in November by The Athletic that Fenway Sports Group (FSG) had put Liverpool up for sale after buying the club for £300m in 2010, with the Premier League club in severe financial difficulties at the time.
However, the Daily Mail recently reported that FSG are no longer interested in a full-scale sale of the club, with US investment firm RedBird Capital Partners even considering increasing their stake in the Reds after the group previously paid £533m for an 11% stake in FSG back in 2021.
The Latest: No interested parties
These developments may have come as a result of little concrete interest from outside parties to buy FSG’s stake in Liverpool.
Speaking on the Blood Red YouTube channel, finance guru Powell claimed there are currently no offers on the table and that FSG’s future level of investment in the summer window - and potentially beyond - could be telling of their intentions regarding the club.
He said: “What I've been told repeatedly by people who would know, nobody has shown their hand, nobody has come to the table, nobody has said, 'here's x amount of money for the football club'.
“There's been no high-level discussion held as yet. If anything, FSG were kind of fighting a few fires in Boston in December, so LFC sale focus hasn’t really been at the top of their agenda; it’s something which they’re exploring.”
“It would be hard to make a case for them to still be competitive owners if they weren’t to make any significant investment this summer, because it’s quite obvious that this is a Liverpool team in dire need of investment in key areas that will be expensive, and it needs the bill footing, so the summer will be very, very telling.”
The Verdict: Telling summer?
As Powell alluded to at the end, the Reds have a massive summer window coming up that will likely see an overhaul of the squad given Liverpool are currently in 10th place in the league. In fact, they are as close to the relegation zone as they are the top four, standing 11 points away from each end of the table.
This means a busy summer is just what the doctor ordered at Anfield to turn the tide on their gloomy campaign and resurrect belief heading into next season, with Powell also claiming on the podcast: “It's hard to imagine that this rebuild doesn't cost them any less than £200m this summer.”
After spending just £37m on PSV Eindhoven forward Cody Gakpo in January as the only incoming, the demand for more talent at Anfield next season will probably be vast, along with the situation regarding six first-team players set to be out of contract in the summer (via Transfermarkt) all potentially needing replacing, too.
So despite the talk of a takeover at Anfield, it doesn't appear that this will see FSG wind down in terms of the level of investment in the club. This makes sense, as they would otherwise be looking to sell a club heading in the wrong direction.