Liverpool‘s owner John W. Henry has rejected a proposed takeover bid from a billionaire Chinese art collector Liu Yiqian, according to reports.
Henry is the co-founder of Fenway Sports Group, who also own Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, and bought Liverpool for £300 million from the gravely unpopular Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2010, with the Anfield outfit then in financial turmoil.
The Reds, however, have not enjoyed much tangible success during the FSG era, having won just the League Cup in 2011.
This lack of silverware, along with just one solitary campaign in the Champions League, appears not to have moved Henry and company to offload the Premier League giants.
Times Sport have revealed Yiqian, who is worth £2.5bn and is the 47th richest man in China, approached Henry’s Fenway Sports Group with an unsolicited offer via email, but was ignored and a club source has said: “We did not respond because the club is not for sale.
Furthermore, the report adds that while FSG have no plans to sell, they are locked in discussions about bringing in some strategic investment in attempts to restore the glory days back at the club.
“We have been having discussions about strategic investment and that will continue.”
Henry, who himself is understood to be worth £1.7bn, has already provided an £114m investment for the expansion of Anfield, with phase one of the project due for completion in January.
The addition of 8,500 seats inside the stadium is expected to see an increase in attendances and revenue, with the club first home game of the 2016/17 set to be against champions Leicester in September – after the FA agreed to reverse their original home clash with Burnley in August.
Henry’s decision to turn down the offer is viewed as a sign of his commitment to the Merseyside outfit and he’s already backed manager Jurgen Klopp in the transfer market this summer already with the signing of Sadio Mane for £34million from Premier League rivals Southampton.
It is not the first time under the ownership of FSG that the Reds have splashed the cash, Andy Carroll was the first arrival under the new regime in the 2010/11 winter transfer window for a club record fee of £35million.
More transfer activity is expected before the transfer window shuts next month as Liverpool look to improve on last season’s eighth-placed finish.
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