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Bournemouth owner bids for Portuguese club

Bournemouth owner Bill Foley is in talks to buy Portuguese club Moreirense.  Foley, 79, is the managing partner of Black Knight Football Club, the group of investors who bought Bournemouth in December 2022 and then acquired a 30 per cent stake in French side Lorient a month later.

Black Knight then bought Auckland, an Australian Professional Leagues (APL) expansion franchise in New Zealand’s largest city before buying a minority stake in Scottish Premiership side Hibernian.

The group have been evaluating the option of buying a Portuguese club and had been in talks with Lisbon-based Casa Pia, but conversations with their owner Robert Platek broke down.

Foley explained to The Athletic why he does not mind saying that Bournemouth are at the top of the Black Knight tree, an admission that has caused some annoyance in France.  “I’m just being honest,” he said. “Many players in Ligue 1 want to move to the Premier League, and we want to give them that opportunity.

“We want Lorient to be very good and if they can play in Europe, we would want them to do that. We don’t want (Lorient president) Loic (Fery) to sell all of his best players. We want him to have the opportunity of reaching Europe.

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