Towards the end of Juergen Klopp’s coaching era at Anfield, Liverpool management began to move to prepare for the post-Klopp era. This movement is visible in the behind-the-scenes sector and in the club’s sports project plans in general.
After previously recalling Michael Edwards as Operations Director and appointing Richard Hughes as Sports Director, FSG as the club owner plans to buy a club in Brazil, to become a satellite team.
As is known, the trend of ownership of several clubs by one party has recently become a trend in Europe. After City Football Group and Red Bull, a similar plan emerged, as launched by FSG, with Brazilian clubs as targets.
Apart from the abundant production of quality players, the opportunity to own shares in Brazilian clubs is quite open, because Brazilian League clubs are often hit by financial problems due to mismanagement.
This gap is a weakness that actually produces a competitive advantage for the Brazilian national team, because the sale of local star players to European clubs is often relied on to patch up the club’s financial crisis.
In fact, FSG has already attempted to buy a Brazilian club in 2021, with the Cruzeiro club as a target. However, this plan failed, after Ronaldo was able to beat FSG’s offer, to buy 90% of the shares in his first professional club when he was playing, for 70 million US Dollars.
Before buying shares in the highest caste club in the Brazilian League, the legend of the Brazilian National Team had bought 51% of the shares in the Real Valladollid club (now playing in the second caste of the Spanish League) for 30 million euros, in 2018. This figure then increased to 82% in 2020 .
In the Premier League, FSG’s plan was already carried out by John Textor (Crystal Palace). This businessman from the United States also has shares (among others) in Lyon (France), Botafogo (Brazil), and RWD Molenbeek (Belgium). There is also Todd Boehly (Chelsea) who also has shares in RC Strasbourg, the French Ligue 2 club.
Along with the success of Red Bull and City Football Group, share ownership in several cross-border clubs has become a trend, because it can expand market reach, cooperation and talent search.
So, it is natural that FSG is looking for their second football club. As a first step, they are targeting Pedro Marques (Benfica) as the club’s second Sports Director.
Regarding the target club, Santos FC was on FSG’s radar, because it has a quality club academy. Coincidentally, the club that launched Pele and Neymar is also being hit by a financial crisis.
The problem is, the club that competes in the second caste competition in the Brazilian League is still resistant to foreign owners. Especially if the idea is to become the majority shareholder of the club.
Evidently, Qatar Sport Investment (QSI)’s efforts to buy Santos shares in 2023 have hit a dead end. QSI itself already has shares in PSG (France) and Braga (Portugal).
If you look at the figure of the Sports Director who is being targeted, FSG seems to be trying to copy QSI’s strategy, by targeting a Portuguese League club, if they don’t get a Brazilian club. Incidentally, the Portuguese League is well known for having a good reputation for scouting talent and promoting young players.
So, it makes sense if FSG will acquire a Portuguese League club in the near future, which will become a “circle” with Liverpool, and even become a school for young players on The Kop.
On the other hand, FSG’s plan to look for a new club, coupled with the trend of share ownership in several clubs by one party in recent years, has become an interesting strategy, which (so far) has been able to circumvent the standard spike in player transfer prices.
As is known, since Neymar’s transfer from Barcelona to PSG for 222 million euros in 2017, transfer prices and player salaries have been hit by severe inflation. The situation became even more complicated when UEFA tightened Financial Fair Play rules, which were recently also implemented (among others) in the English League and Spanish League.
With the growing emphasis on the value of sustainability, having a satellite team is clearly a logical solution, as the opportunity to source talent at a price. it still makes sense to be more open.
In turn, the club’s orientation becomes more complete, because it doesn’t only think about winning trophies in the short term, but also thinks about how to maintain sustainability at the club, so that it can still compete with a healthy financial condition.
Apart from the vulnerable side, which includes conflicts of interest and business orientation, FSG’s plan to join in the trend of “owning more than one club” aka “multiclub ownership”, will mark another cycle in Liverpool, which will welcome the post-Klopp era.
ASL
