Stephen Pagliuca has sparked rumours of interest in buying Liverpool following his comments at Financial Times Business of Football Summit.
“I looked at Liverpool about 15 years ago when they had that situation,” he said in response to his interest in the club before FSG brought The Reds.
“I can’t talk specifically about any transactions we are working on because of confidentiality agreements but obviously we are aware of those transactions.
“The questions on those transactions in general is what price level do we think is sustainable? Obviously the Chelsea process which received a record price has probably motivated folks to try and monetise clubs that they have owned for a long time, and we are certainly in a period where values have been driven up.
“Anyone who buys a club has to assess the economic opportunity, how much money we have to put in to keep up the quality and what that will cost you. That is what we do in everything we are looking at.”
The US billionaire, head of Bain Capital, has a net worth of $3.8bn. Last year, he made the headlines for his failed attempt at buying Chelsea Football Club and has subsequently been linked with a move for Liverpool.
Reports indicate that he is still interested in purchasing a football team in England though, with Liverpool being of particular interest. His comments about confidentiality agreements will be of particular note – does that mean he can’t talk about Liverpool as it’s an active deal in progress?
Pagliuca already has influence in sporting team as he currently owns the Boston Celtics in the NBA, and Atalanta in Serie A, and is looking to expand his sporting investments.
Last year, it was reported that FSG were willing to sell Liverpool, but have since backtracked to being open to minority investors. John W. Henry stated he’s ‘looking for a strategic partner’.
This week, Liverpool announced a pre tax profit of £7.5m for the past year. You’d think making money in football is impossible, but somehow Henry manages to do so.
No wonder Pagliuca has expressed an interest.
