Liverpool could exploit Everton drama and rival Kylian Mbappe with £17m off-pitch deal

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Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group may look Paris as they consider the next step in their global football masterplan.

Liverpool became FSG’s first football investment in 2010, when the Boston-based investment group paid around £300m to acquire them from the previous Hicks-Gillette regime.

If they were to sell the club tomorrow, FSG would like received a 10x return on their initial investment.

That is in keeping with their record for capital appreciation projects, with their ownership of the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and now stakes NASCAR and the PGA Tour all deemed highly successful.

Earlier this month, FSG were linked with a takeover of historic but financially imperilled French club Bordeaux.

That deal, including debt, would likely have cost Liverpool‘s owners around £68m.

However, FSG pulled out of talks with Bordeaux’s current owners amid concerns about the debt burden and the wider state of French football.

Bordeaux have now gone bankrupt, in a move which has indirectly benefited Man City whose Troyes subsidiary club have been promoted in their place.

But now a new takeover opportunity has emerged – and one that could theoretically see FSG go head to head with France and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe.

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Liverpool owners FSG could now explore Red Star takeover

Unlike Man City’s City Football Group, FSG are believed to be pursuing a multi-club model under which each club can sustain itself and not merely act as a feeder club for the mothership.

And in historic Parisian side Red Star, they may have found exactly that.

French football has suffered in recent times as a result of the failure to secure a high-value TV deal, which is a direct result of the departures of superstars like Mbappe, as well as Lionel Messi and Neymar.

However, Red Star – as a result of their unique history and alternative brand – have a cult following overseas and would provide an interesting commercial opportunity for FSG.

As reported by The Athletic, Red Star are now officially for sale as owners 777 Partners no longer have the capital to continue to run the club.

If the name of that group sounds familiar, it is because 777 were in line to take over Everton and even lent the club £200m to get a deal done.

But after a saga lasting almost six months, the Premier League refused to ratify the deal because of doubts that the group could fund Everton amid mounting legal and financial issues.

Those issues have now extended across 777’s football network, and that means Red Star could also be available for a cut-price deal.

And while it may seem trivial, the ‘Red’ branding of the club would tally with FSG’s wider commercial strategy.

One of the group’s largest investors are Red Bird Capital, and the colour’s connections with Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox are obvious.

This has been a concept employed by Man City, whose sky blue branding is featured across their multi-club network, while Aston Villa’s owners have targeted clubs with ‘V’ in their names.

Their could also be increased interest in Ligue 2 next season as Mbappe has purchased second-tier club Caens in a £17m deal, which would also act as a benchmark for how much FSG might pay.

While there has been no confirmation, industry sources have told TBR that it is almost inconceivable that FSG would not have been contacted when Red Star became available.

TBR Analysis: Why do Liverpool and FSG want the multi-club model?

Multi-club networks allow owners to pool costs and create a ready-made scouting network that can help with recruitment and player development.

There are also regulatory workarounds, such as helping English clubs bypass post-Brexit recruitment rules by parking players at sister clubs before they accrued the necessary points to play in the Premier League.

There are myriad reasons why FSG would want to get involved in the multi-club racket- and that can be seen in their own ownership structure.

Two major investors in FSG, Arctos and Red Bird, have stakes in Atalanta, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Sevilla.