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Investors are circling clubs

Expectations for the upcoming auction of television rights are helping to drive interest in buying top flight football clubs. Forecasts of how much the current £5.1bn fee could rise vary from £200m to £1bn. A lot depends on whether Amazon and Facebook throw their hats in the ring and if they do so on their own behalf or in conjunction with conventional broadcasters.

One club where there is uncertainty is Arsenal. Alisher Usmanov could be prepared to sell his stake. He could then put the proceeds into Everton, teaming up with his long-term business partner Farhad Moshiri. Moshiri sold his 15 per cent stake in Arsenal last year to Usmanov.

Liverpool could be available for sale at the right price. John Henry is keen to put the loss-making Boston Globe newspaper on a stable footing. Bids of around £800m for Liverpool have been knocked back with the club valued by Fenway at £1.5bn. It is felt that countries are the real value investors these days.

However, clubs are no longer seen just as trophy assets, but also as business investments. Tripp Smith, an American dealmaker at investment firm Blackstone, took a ten per cent investment in West Ham United last month from an Icelandic group. However, although he has taken a seat on the board, he is not thought to be interested in a majority holding.

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