On November 9, to many people’s surprise reports came out linking Liverpool owner John W. Henry with selling the club for an offer of over £1.5 billion. Henry’s Fenway Sports Group has owned Liverpool for eight years now but is reportedly looking to sell according to the New York Post.
This transaction seems unlikely given the way Liverpool have invested in the building of their squad, with massive signings over the past few seasons under Jurgen Klopp, geared towards a series assault on the Premier League title.
Previous reports linked Sheik Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nehayan to a £2 billion attempt to take over Liverpool. This would be the most expensive takeover in footballing history, however, Henry said he was not interested in selling at the time which makes sense as Fenway Sports Group are still enjoying the financial wind fall from their team the Boston Red Sox winning the baseball World Series last month and clearly the Group are looking to add another title to their portfolio by winning the Premier League with Liverpool.
The previously linked sheik is Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour’s cousin. Currently, Manchester City is in hot water due to the Der Spiegel revelations around Financial Fair Play violations. With his cousin’s troubles in Manchester, Liverpool’s prospective new owner may think twice about entering English football.
But, the rumours on Liverpool’s sale seem to indicate that Henry may be open to hearing prospective bids. Forbes ranked Liverpool as worth nearly £2 billion coming in as the eighth most valuable football club.
In August, FSG released a statement that the club is not for sale, and the owners may be waiting for future success before cashing in on Liverpool. A Premier League title would certainly add a lot of value to a potential Liverpool sale and given the massive investment made in Jurgen Klopp and his squad a sale of the club seems unlikely before next summer.
Liverpool is currently keeping the pace with other Premier League title contenders, and with controversy swirling around Manchester City it may be Liverpool’s time to capitalize. After suffering through a number of average performances recently like the narrow win over Huddersfield, the draw with Arsenal and the loss to Red Star Belgrade where Klopp’s side were distinctly second best to all three teams, Liverpool look to be getting back to their early season form after the solid 2-0 win over Fulham this past weekend and as a result bookies such as Stakers betting are offering good odds on Liverpool to win their next several Premier League games and rebuild their impressive momentum which has seen them emerge as very serious rivals to Man City and Chelsea for the title.
However, fans will not want rumours surrounding the club’s ownership to last too long and distract from on-field performances. The players and coaching staff are professionals, but they are also employees who do not need to be worried about a change in boss disrupting their chances at Premier League glory.
Also, it is unknown what these rumours will mean for the winter transfer window. Will FSG and Henry lower the transfer funds available to Klopp? Or will FSG double down on their intention not to sell the club and invest more money for a title push? Fans will have to wait for answers, but in the short term it could spell a quieter transfer window than some fans were hoping for.
After a particularly lacklustre performance against Red Star Belgrade, some fans were worried about the state of the Liverpool midfield. Naby Keïta and Fabinho were signed in the summer to dominate the midfield, but they have yet to really bed into the squad.
In regards to their midfield Liverpool has been targeting French midfielder Adrien Rabiot from PSG, but they will face stiff competition from Spanish giants Barcelona for the Frenchman’s signature. Napoli midfielder Piotr Zielinski has also been linked to a future move to Anfield.
Further forward, Liverpool’s star-studded attack is still one of the best in the Premier League. The usual front three is set in stone, but Klopp needs depth if he wants to compete in both the Champions League and Premier League.
New signing Xherdan Shaqiri has provided a new spark off the bench, and Daniel Sturridge has been showing some flashes of his former brilliance. But, rumours have connected Liverpool to signing some young forwards who will push for a rotational spot in the squad.
Englishman Jadon Sancho has impressed for Borussia Dortmund, and he could return to English football at Anfield and a move for the English starlet has been reported in recent weeks. Another potential youngster is Real Mallorca’s Cameroonian wonderkid Victor de Baunbag.
Klopp’s transfer plans may be changed if supposed rumours of FSG being open to offers to sell the club are true, but for Liverpool fans’ sake, hopefully enough money will be at Klopp’s disposal to increase the quality of his squad should the German manager want to sign reinforcements in the upcoming window.