PSG owners' Leeds takeover "will happen sooner rather than later"
French journalist Julien Laurens claims that PSG owners Qatar Sports Investments are very close to securing the acquisition of Leeds United.
PSG owners Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) are close to securing a takeover deal for Leeds United, according to French journalist Julien Laurens.
According to reports earlier this week, QSI and PSG chairman Al Khelaifi have reached the advanced stages of talks regarding the ownership of the English club, whose current major shareholder is Italian businessman, Andrea Radrizzani.
“The owners of PSG, the Qatar Royal Family, are very keen on buying Leeds,” Laurens stated in an interview with talkSPORT.
“They know the owner there very well, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is the PSG chairman and who is very close to the Qatar Royal Family and he is very good friends with Radrizzani [the Leeds owner].”
He added: “I would be very surprised if that takeover doesn’t actually happen. I think it will happen sooner rather than later.”
QSI choose Leeds over Roma
Having turned PSG into one of the biggest and most powerful clubs in Europe, QSI are keen to expand their footballing porfolio, and were understood to be looking at buying a club in either England or Italy.
The Qatari group had reportedly considered buying Roma but eventually set their sights on Leeds as it was a more feasible option than the Serie A club -- claims that were backed up by Laurens.
“They have expanded their brand everywhere in the world; in Japan, in Australia, in the U.S and the MLS and in Spain as well. And in Qatar, they are thinking ‘well, we should be the same really’ to expand the brand and get a few clubs,” Laurens told talkSPORT.
“And Leeds would very much be part of that. I think they have been in interested in the English market for a long time – they also looked at AS Roma – but it looks like Leeds ticks a lot of the boxes for them.”
Leeds United, who just missed out on promotion to the Premiership after losing a semi-final playoff to Derby County, have so far denied any claims of the takeover bid from QSI, who are reportedly one of a dozen interested parties looking to buy the Championship club.