Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group (FSG) is in talks to buy French club Bordeaux.
The FSG is in the “early stages of dialogue and engagement,” the group confirmed in a statement Tuesday. Bordeaux also confirmed the opening of discussions in a statement.
A thorough due diligence process will be undertaken to assess the feasibility of the deal and ensure that both parties are on good terms.
It is recognised that Bordeaux represents a good option for FSG, but it is recognised that there are many issues that could prevent any deal from happening.
Any team purchased by FSG would be a standalone entity, with no direct connection to Liverpool, with a desire among the owners that any club they buy would retain its independence and identity.
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While confirming discussions with the FSG, Bordeaux announced that it would appeal a decision by the National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG, the body responsible for supervising the finances of French football clubs) to demote it from the second to the third French division.
Bordeaux said it had appealed this decision in order to provide the necessary guarantees for financing the next 2024-25 campaign. The club said that the project to sell a majority stake to FSG was presented to the DNCG on Tuesday morning and that negotiations are underway.
Bordeaux were placed into administration in 2021 when their American owner King Street said they would no longer support the club financially, and they were bought by Luxembourg-Spanish businessman Lopez in June of that year.
It has become clear that FSG are keen to expand into a multi-club model since the appointment of Michael Edwards to a senior role within the group in March, which includes the former Liverpool boss overseeing the club’s football operations.
Edwards then appointed Benfica’s Pedro Marques as director of football development, with the 41-year-old seen as the ideal candidate for FSG’s multi-club ambitions. Marques reports to Julian Ward, who was appointed FSG’s technical director in May and whose remit is to oversee the running of the football operations of any club added to the group’s roster.
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Bordeaux are one of France’s biggest clubs, having won the title six times and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2009-10, but have struggled financially in recent seasons.
The club were relegated to Ligue 2 after finishing at the foot of the table in 2021–22 and have yet to return to the French top flight, having spent just one season outside the division between 1949 and 2022. Under former Liverpool winger Albert Riera, Bordeaux finished 12th in Ligue 2 in the 2023–24 season.
(Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
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