WHITES’ OWNER CLARIFIES TALK OF INVESTOR
LEEDS United owner Andrea Radrizzani has moved to clarify recent comments he made about possible major new investment in the club.
The Italian businessman revealed in an interview with The Times that he had been approached “by more than 20 parties” and that three were of particular interest.
In response to the article, published on Monday, Radrizzani has issued a further statement, claiming he is not actively seeking investment at this moment.
“Because of the job we have done in the past two or three years, we have attracted a lot of interest,” said Radrizzani.
“Obviously the club has modernised on a lot of levels, which is shown by our revenues, which have increased a lot to close to £50million.
“Our attendance is the top of the league, the club has modernised the media department, we have partnerships with Amazon, Wish and Deliveroo – big corporate companies are starting to work with Leeds and, before my arrival, this was impossible even to think.
“We have to be proud of the club and the fact we are attractive to potential investors. When and if we will open discussions is completely another story.
“It depends on the right moment, a moment where I believe we need support to build the club bigger.”
Radrizzani, 45, said in his interview that the three potential investors he was interested in were Qatar Sports Investments and two unnamed parties – a “big fan of Leeds” based in America and an Italian club owner.
QSI, which controls Paris St-Germain, is run by Radrizzani’s friend, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who has worked closely with the Italian sports and media tycoon on several football TV rights deals.
Radrizzani sold a 10 per cent stake in the club to 49ers Enterprises, the financial arm of NFL franchise the San Francisco 49ers, in May 2018.