Liverpool's American owners close to buying La Liga club

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Liverpool's owners are closing in on the shock acquisition of a Spanish football club.

Boston-based Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which owns the reigning Premier League champions, the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and MLB's iconic Boston Red Sox, is looking to add to their portfolio of sports clubs with another soccer side, focusing on La Liga club side Getafe.

According to reports in the Daily Mail, Liverpool's owners have completed their due diligence on the Spanish side and are ready to take the next steps in the process.

Current ETV

Mohamed Salah

M, AM (R), F (C)

Liverpool

Mohamed Salah

M, AM (R), F (C)

Liverpool

€45.8M

ETV Range

€41.2M - €50.4M

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This is an important step, as FSG did pursue an attempted takeover of French Ligue 1 side Toulouse in 2024, but they were not happy and never completed the move. Now it appears they are ready to take that next step, only with Getafe instead.

Michael Edwards and Julian Ward were placed in charge of finding a new club to be part of FSG's portfolio, and Getafe are a smart choice when you think aout what they offer.

Who are Getafe?

Getafe are an established La Liga side, a name that many recognise, but they are not a deeply historic team. They were founded just 42 years ago, in 1983, as a merger of smaller, older sides including a Real Madrid supporters' club.

Therefore, while some may oppose the take-over, FSG would not be seen as trampling over a century of storied history, which would be the case if they tried to sign a more iconic name in Spanish football.

Getafe are also small enough that there are unlikely to be any issues around conflicts with both sides playing in the same European competition that Man City and Girona had to skirt around or Crystal Palace suffered for due to their connection with Lyon.

But Getafe would offer FSG and thus Liverpool a more direct access to the Spanish market, and a place where they could sign and "stash" talented youngsters who maybe are not ready for the gruelling physicality of the Premier League.

Man City showed the value of this when they had Savinho become a star playing for Girona only to sign him as soon as the season ended. Chelsea have also tried to set similar situations up for themselves given BlueCo's ownership of French side Strasbourg.

Questions abound about how ethical multi-club ownership at the scale of Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea is, but it does exist and if Liverpool do decide to move for and sign Getafe there's not much anyone can do about it.

Their fans may also be open to the idea outside investment, given that Getafe have found themselves struggling under La Liga's FFP rules, with club president Angel Torres lamenting that he had to sell Omar Alderete "one of the best centre-backs in La Liga, to a newly promoted Premier League club for peanuts so I could have 16 or 17 players registered."

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