A team filled with young talents including three internationals under 19, a recently inaugurated training complex, the ninth best game throughout Spain, and the promise of a new stadium that will host the 2030 World Cup.
It is not surprising that the owners of Liverpool want to buy the Spanish second division club Malaga. They face competition from owners of Paris Saint-Germain Qatari Sports Investments, who also have a participation in the Portuguese side Braga.
If Fenway Sports Group (FSG) wants to do what the Manchester City owners’ football group did with Girona, Malaga looks like an even more attractive proposal than the Catalan team that burst into the Champions League last season.
As a food club where they can develop players under 18 who, according to Brexit rules, prohibit them to sign, and “park” over 18 years old who would not qualify for work permits, Malaga is perfectly created to develop such talents.
Five years to be in administration have forced them to look into their own academy and three teenagers are currently pillars of the first XI of manager Sergio Pellicer.
Antonito Cordero scored the objective that enabled them to promote the second level in Spain last season. He is a right right winger and an international under 19 in Spain with five goals in 17 departures this season.
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The tastes of Izan Merino have become Spain under 19 internationals at the Malaga Academy
Real Madrid star and former Man City intern, Brahim Diaz, went through the configuration of Malaga
The Republic of Ireland under 19, Aaron Ochoa Moloney, is 18 years old in April. The midfielder has a Spanish father and an Irish mother and impressed alongside another Spain under the age of 19 and regular in Malaga, Izan Merino.
It is a club with a recent healthy story to bring players to its academy, but too often, they even leave before they can make senior beginnings.
Real Madrid’s current striker Brahim Diaz played in the club’s youth team before being signed by Manchester City. Bryan Zaragoza, who was bought by Bayern Munich in January 2024, is another product of the club’s youth system that fled.
And the Spanish defender of Bournemouth, 19, Dean Huijsen, now one of the most popular central prospects in Europe and a target of 50 million pounds sterling for Real Madrid, was also in Malaga before being taken by Juventus Academy.
The current boss Pelliner, who guided Malaga towards the promotion last season, has the reputation of developing all this talent. He made champions of the Spanish youth of Malaga in 2016 and trained them in the young UEFA league, the junior version of the Champions League.
His in -depth knowledge of each category of young people from the club makes him a good choice for a club whose finances have been cleaned by the administration but which cannot invest.
Cordero is the jewel of the Malaga crown but is out of contract at the end of the season and there are fears that he, Moloney and Merino will not leave, just like Brahim and Huijsen.
If the club is bought by FSG, Liverpool would have first chosen these players, either in the blood in Anfield, or to enjoy once they have established themselves.
The owner of Malaga, Sheik Abdullah Al Thani, is extremely unpopular with fans of the club
The club had its glory days in the early 2010s, reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League thanks to tastes of the Star Isco midfielder
The former duo of Arsenal Nacho Monreal and Santi Cazorla both joined Malaga during the 2012-13 season
The prospect of keeping young talents longer and shaking the club of the owner of the owner of 51% Abdullah bin nasser Al Thani, is likely to signify that Malaga fans respond positively to any possible sale at FSG.
When City Football Group tried to buy Nac Breda in 2022, they concluded an agreement for only 7 million euros (5.85 million pounds sterling), but ended up withdrawing because there was so much hostile opposition from the Dutch club fans base. There will not be such a rejection on the part of the supporters of Malaga.
CFG also saw demonstrations by one of their French clubs Troyes stables, after being relegated to Ligue 2 having had their best player, Savinho, loaned to the Sister Gérona club, then sold in City for 30 million pounds Sterling last summer.
But “anyone except Al Thani” is the response in stock of supporters of Malaga to the suggestion that FSG takes over. Al Thani built the club when he took over in 2010, and in 2013, Manuel Pellegrini had them in the quarter -final of the Champions League. Santi Cazorla, Isco and Nacho Monreal, as well as the aging strike pair Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roque Santa Cruz, all arrived.
But they haven’t been there for a long time. The investment was then withdrawn, the relegation followed in 2018 and the club went to administration in 2020, the reduced workforce and the transfer budget reduced to zero.
The club managed to build a training complex that was inaugurated last year and their stadium “La Rosaleda” should be rebuilt, passing its capacity from 30,000 to 45,000. They will play in a temporary house during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons during its end.
The stadium, currently held by three of the Malaga municipal institutions, will be one of the host places of the 2030 World Cup, which Spain co-organized with Morocco and Portugal. There is also the potential to fill it. The average attendance of just under 25,000 is better than all other teams from the second level in Spain and 12 clubs in the elite.
There were still regular 20,000 doors last season when they fell into the third level. The club is sick and needs our support was the battle cry under which the supporters continued.
The average Malaga attendance of just under 25,000 is better than all other teams of the second level of Spain and 12 clubs in the high flight
Malaga plans to extend their land to 45,000 seats and welcome matches at the 2030 World Cup
Malaga has the potential to imitate Girona if the good staff are set up to design and manage a coherent project
The Manchester City star, Savinho, came by their multi-club network first to Troyes then ready in Girona before moving to England for 30 million pounds sterling
Malaga has the potential to imitate Girona if the good staff are set up to design and manage a coherent project. The success of the Catalan club last season was due to director Michel, experienced sports director, Quique Carcel and President Pere Guardiola (brother of), as he did to the investment of the city group.
And if he’s prosperous as Girona has done, Liverpool would benefit from it. The only long -term concern would be that if it goes too well, there would be a greater decline on the part of fans who are no longer content to allow the needs of Liverpool.
There was a dissent from Girona because their success in the Champions League was only rewarded with their brilliant winger Savinho led to Etihad, and the star attacker and the Artem Dovbyk and Aleix Garcia midfielder sold and are not properly replaced, leaving the team out of their depth in Europe.
But this problem seems far right now. Thanks to the ownership nightmares of recent years, more immediate concern is now to obtain a purchase on the line.