Interesting piece from Jonathan Northcroft in Sunday Times today
Liverpool are the target of an £800m takeover bid backed by the Chinese government that has the potential to make them the richest club in the Premier League. China Everbright, a state-backed financial giant, is spearheading the attempt to buy the Anfield club from current owners Fenway Sports Gropu (FSC) but the bulk of the money is expected to come from the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s main sovereign wealth fund whose assets are put at about £620bn.
Should the backing succeed it would give Liverpool backers with a financial clout exceeding even that of Manchester City’s owner, Sheihk Mansour,and open the possibility spending to match Manchester City and Manchester United.
Having bought Liverpool for £300m in 2010, FSG have invested significantly in players yet found themselves unable to get near to matching the fees and wages being offered by the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and indeed some of Europe’s giants - and, indeed, they lost out on a main transfer target to China when Jiangsu Suning gazumped them for the Brazilian Alex Teixeira in January.
While Manchester United broke the world transfer record for Paul Pogba this summer and Manchester City exceeded even United’s spending with a flurry of transfers worth about £152m, Klopp has been balancing his books.
Liverpool spent £30m on Sadio Mane and £23m on Georginio Wijnaldum but recouped most of the club’s total summer outlay through the transfers of Joe Allen, Jordan Ibe and Christian Benteke.
Although Anfield’s expansion will net club an extra £25m per season, it seems unlikely that would be enough to allow Klopp to be able to complete for players with his main Premier League rivals without his club receiving major fresh investment.