FootBiz newsletter #45: Latest on Barcelona mess, identity of Reading buyer revealed

A new week and a new year begins.

And with it a transfer window where, as one sporting director tells us, there are so few players actually available that it’s five clubs going for each of them.

Everybody seems to be looking for “a loan, maybe two” and if you want to buy someone it’s going to cost you because it’ll be hard to replace them this month. For that reason I actually think January is a great time to sell, get extra value and muddle through with your academy players but 🤷‍♂️.

Yes, a new week, new year, new window all begin and so does a new era for club ownership - which might even already be upon us.

It is an undeniable macro trend now that TV rights are flattening and in many cases declining across the major European leagues. Even the Premier League is forced to dress up a smaller deal as a win, and while there are leagues who have levers to pull to ensure that future deals are at least appetising to broadcasters - the PL can sell more games or banish the blackout, Liga MX can centralise its rights agreements - in general we must accept that the era of consistent, significant increases in every cycle are over.

Which means clubs must adjust, because football clubs have generally been far too willing to run at a loss knowing that by the time the next broadcast rights deal is negotiated they are going to luck into an even bigger annual sum.

So what now? Well, regulation is coming. We know that. But also a focus from owners, observers and potential investors on efficacy and efficiency. Those who run the clubs in the smartest way will be the great beneficiaries, while those who can not stem their losses or find a way to win (on or off the field) will suffer.

The full story is here and if you aren’t a premium subscriber then the new year could be a great time to become one! If not, here’s your newsletter anyway.

And yes, for those of you paying attention, this newsletter was scheduled for PM instead of AM and had to be fixed manually. Apologies.

Table of Contents

• Barca update: Laporta seems safe

• Comp and circumstance

• M&A Murmurs

• Fun and games in Argentina

• Berta bets on England

• Free Carabao for all

• One Behdad apartment

Barca update: Laporta seems safe

Big day in court for Dani Olmo, Barça and specifically for President Joan Laporta.

With the team flying out to Saudi Arabia for the Super Cup with Olmo and the oft-forgotten-but-also-unregistered Pau Victor on the plane, even though they can't play unless a court reverses La Liga and Spanish FA's suspension, presidential rivals are circling Laporta and calling for a vote of no confidence.

However, despite what to outsiders seems a shambolic handling of the affair, our sources say Laporta's opponents won't get the required 15 per cent of socios to trigger a vote.

And even then they would be unlikely to meet the 66 per cent threshold that would be required for the motion to pass, and since Laporta doesn’t seem like the resigning type it looks as though he's staying until 2026 election.

By then he will have delivered the club to the new Spotify Camp Nou, and the political outlook will be very different… even if he sells off yet another tranche of future revenues.

Speaking of the Spotify Camp Nou, you may have missed this impeccably connected story from Joan Poquí and Se Solé in Mundo Deportivo on January 3rd.

Barca do love a tight deadline and the latest is that they have to get the top tier finished on the new stadium by May or else risk starting another season at Montjuic.

The reason being that lifting the cables for the roof requires three months of no football, a part of the build that is imaginatively named Operation Big Lift.

Ideally that would be this summer.

It's not impossible that they still get some football played at the new arena this season before the Big Lift, but increasingly it looks like it will be the 2025-26 season for a start date. And given their financial issues, they need it fully operational ASAP.

Comp and circumstance

West Ham are preparing to pay out compensation for sacking a manager for just the third time in 15 years if they follow through with plans to dismiss Julen Lopetegui just six months into his two-year contract.

The former Real Madrid and Spain coach was close to being sacked at the start of last month following a heavy defeat to Leicester City, but survived by putting together a four-match unbeaten run before 5-0 and 4-1 thrashings by Liverpool and Manchester City have put his future back in doubt.

West Ham's board met yesterday to discuss Lopetegui's position and have already held talks with Graham Potter about replacing him. Noises are that the former Brighton and Chelsea boss might finally be ready to return to management.

While West Ham are no strangers to managerial churn, under the current ownership led by chairman David Sullivan they have tended to avoid making a change before their contracts expired. Of 10 permanent managers hired by Sullivan since 2010 only Avram Grant, Slaven Bilic and Manuel Pellegrini were actually dismissed, and in Grant's case the compensation was modest as he was only sacked after West Ham had been relegated. David Moyes (twice) and Sam Allardyce were both let go at the end of their contracts, although Bilic was paid off. Pellegrini collected a pay-off of around £3.5m after he was sacked in December 2019, and Lopetegui will be entitled to a similar severance payment when he is finally put out of his misery, almost certainly this week.

One of Lopetegui’s final acts was to banish sporting director Tim Steidten from the training ground. Steidten’s future is thought to be secure for now, at least compared to Lopetegui’s, but his up-and-down transfer record and 100% record of clashing with West Ham’s managers have placed his role under the microscope.

M&A Murmurs

Another twist, then, in the long-running saga of John Textor and Crystal Palace.

The American multi-club investor announced at the start of the season that he was looking to sell his ~45% stake in Palace in order to buy Everton, but after that deal fell through and The Friedkin Group took over on Merseyside, talks to sell that Palace stake evolved.

Two groups were credited with serious interest. First was a special purpose vehicle called SportsBank, which was brought together by veteran financier Keith Harris and includes Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer, two fans of the club.

A second group is funded by Saudi-born duo Mansoor and Haider Syed, but also counts on expertise from former Roc Nation exec Wajid Mir and Bejan Esmaili, a former Morgan Stanley executive who has led a number of business ventures with former USMNT players Jozy Altidore, Claudio Reyna and Tim Howard.

It is the latter group that has entered exclusive talks to buy the stake from Textor after increasing its initial offer of $185m, per The Athletic.

However, SportsBank are in talks over investing in Textor’s multi-club vehicle and sources tell us that Textor’s ideal scenario would be to use SportsBank’s investment in Eagle Football to buy out David Blitzer, Josh Harris and Steve Parish to take full control of Palace.

Any takeover of Palace by Textor would risk the ire of the club’s fanbase, who have on several occasions made clear their opposition to being part of a multi-club operation and floated on the New York Stock Exchange, as is Textor’s plan.

Last week we mentioned Reading had a mystery man waiting in the wings to save the club now that the stadium loan situation had been resolved.

Over the weekend, The Sun revealed that man to be London financier Paul Taylor. Taylor previously attempted to buy Chelsea and broker a deal to acquire Sainsbury’s supermarkets on behalf of the Qatari royal family.

Club staff are still in the dark on the progress or likelihood of any deal, but funding is desperately needed to avoid having to sell players this month and any potential financial missteps that could end in further points deductions, damaging their play-off hopes.

Leyton Orient are looking for investment. The second-oldest club in London has plans to relocate and build a new, larger stadium and would need a cash injection to be able to make good on the ambitious project.

Orient have played at Brisbane Road since 1937.

Fun and games in Argentina

Back in September we wrote about the Argentine government’s fight with its football federation, as the country’s unconventional president Javier Milei pushes to allow clubs to act as for-profit businesses.

One of those leading the charge to abandon the democratic, non-profit status of clubs is Juan Sebastian Verón, the former Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder who now acts as president of his boyhood club Estudiantes de La Plata.

Verón and Estudiantes have spent months lining up American businessman Foster Gillett, the son of reviled former Liverpool owner George Gillett, to effectively take over the club, planning to invest over $100m.

While the technical issues over legality and regulation continue to ping between the courts, Milei said on the radio this week that “Estudiantes is on the path to convert into a SAD [for-profit business] for the benefit of its members and fans.”

Verón denied those claims, but alluded to separate commercial agreements that have been made which won’t oblige the club to change its structure. This way, they don’t have to wait for SADs to become legal to begin spending Gillett’s money.

So imagine the controversy when Estudiantes triggered the $15m release clause of Boca Juniors midfielder Cristian Medina, and the money came not from Estudiantes’ bank account but one connected to Gillett.

First of all, $15m is a record buy for an Argentine club. It is not uncommon for players to leave for significant sums (Enzo Fernandez’s $45m move to Benfica is the record, per Transfermarkt) but Medina’s move from the southern docks of Buenos Aires out to the province represents a record purchase. Not to mention that he’s leaving arguably the biggest club in the country for a team not considered one of Argentina’s five grandes. Estudiantes are the nouveau riche of Argieball.

As you might expect, Boca (who wanted to keep Medina) have filed a formal complaint asserting that the money coming from a third-party account is illegal and petitioning for the move to be reversed. They argue it not only breaks local rules but FIFA rules too, as it would constitute a third-party deal. Clauses must be paid by the player themselves or the club contracting them.

Estudiantes insist they’ve done nothing wrong, and common sense dictates that even if the money is returned then they will find a way to make the same deal within the rules.

But this all demonstrates how difficult it will be for Estudiantes to try and change models without changing models. And it brings the argument over the SADs to the fore again in a realm that fans really care about - player transfers.

Berta bets on England

In 2023, Jonathan Wilson labelled our current period of modern football as the “Era of the Executive” where directors were the new centres of power rather than coaches.

It was that phrase which came to mind when reports emerged late last week that Atletico Madrid’s sporting director Andrea Berta would shortly be leaving the club, moving to England and perfecting his English in anticipation of taking up a Premier League job.

In what amounted to a declaration of intent - or, to use the old term attributed to players looking for a move, a ‘come-and-get-me plea’ - Berta has let the richest league in the world know that he is available, and after 12 successful years at Atleti he is likely to be top of most lists should a role open up.

Manchester United have previously been linked with Berta, and recently parted ways with Dan Ashworth so there is potentially a gap. Perhaps that is too obvious a link to make, but for now it means that there are two top candidates, Ashworth and Berta, sitting out there waiting for a senior exec role if a Premier League club needs one.

Free Carabao for all

The League Cup semi-finals will be available to watch on free-to-air television in the UK for the first time in 12 years when Arsenal meet Newcastle in their first-leg clash at the Emirates Stadium this evening. While subscription service Sky Sports remain the main rights holder for the Carabao Cup, the broadcaster have agreed to share coverage of two of the semi-finals and the final with ITV Sport for the next three years.

The £15m deal also gives ITV joint live rights to 10 matches from the Championship in the second half of this season, as well as seven early-round League Cup ties from next season. ITV will add their own presentation for tonight's game at the Emirates, and the second leg of the other semi-final between Liverpool and Tottenham, but are expected to take Sky Sports' coverage of the final in March.

Sky have opted to use the latter stages of the League Cup featuring elite Premier League teams as a promotional vehicle for their regular Premier League and EFL coverage in the hope of driving subscriptions. 

The League Cup has been exclusively behind a paywall in the UK since 2013, when a similar joint deal between Sky and the BBC expired. Under that arrangement the BBC were also given two legs of the then Carling Cup semi-finals not covered by Sky and shared coverage of the final.

One Behdad apartment

Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali continues to spend extravagantly after sanctioning over £1bn of player signings since acquiring 62 per cent of the club on behalf of Clearlake Capital three years ago.

According a report from Bloomberg last year, Eghbali spent £56m on a luxury penthouse in Mayfair, making it the UK's most expensive apartment deal of 2024, according to the financial news wire. Details of Eghbali's new property on Grovesnor Square, a single-story unit with a large outdoor terrace, a spa, fitness centre, wine cellar and private cinema, appear in the most recent transactions data from the Land Registry, which were released last week.

The Iran-born American businessman already owns an apartment in Mayfair, but with Forbes estimating his net worth at around £3bn that will not be a problem. In footballing terms Eghbali's new purchase is worth slightly more than Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella, and is one of his few recent acquisitions he has not sourced from Brighton.