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Liverpool could have route to flood of Brazilian talent amid £68m off-pitch twist

Adam Williams

Thu 18 July 2024 18:41, UK

Few academies in world football can boast a legacy of producing as many world-class talents as Liverpool.

🎐In the 90s, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler came through.

♑More recently, the revamped academy at Kirby has produced the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah.

Looking back further, Liverpool ওfans of a certain vintage will regale you with stories about Ronnie Moran, Tommy Smith and Ian Callaghan.

ไIt is safe to say football – and particularly the business of football – has changed beyond compare since that era.

Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group🏅 have recently explored a new way of attracting top young talent: the multi-club organisation.

🌱The success of Man City’s City Football Group and the Red Bull network in mass producing rising stars has left the Boston-based investment group wanting a slice of the pie.

ꦯFSG were in talks with historic French side Bordeaux♏ until earlier this week, when it emerged that a potential deal worth up to £68m had fallen through.

To find out where FSG might turn next and their ambitions to farm young talent via an MCO, TBR 𒈔spoke exclusively to Liverpool University football finance lecturer and Price of Football author Kieran Maguire.

Liverpool’s multi-club ambitions very different to Man City’s

꧃As reported by GiveMeSport journalist Ben Jacobs via , talks between FSG and Bodeaux collapsed partly because of costs around the stadium and the wider state of French football.

🐈However, the deal is also believed not to have got over the line because of the profile of the club that FSG, who own another 16 sports or media assets in the US, want to acquire.

🌳Apparently, FSG want a club that can stand on its own two feet and not simply act as a feeder club for Liverpool, although there will likely be an element of intra-network trading.

🦩This is in stark contrast to Man City’s City Football Group, where the four-times reigning Premier League champions are indisputably the mothership.

🍷Asked about the two groups’ contrasting approaches, Maguire offered his analysis on why FSG favour a capital appreciation project.

“FSG are in football because they are a multi-sports organization that feels the financial returns in sport have not been fully generated.

“There is an awful lot of poor management in football. FSG could not be more different. They are spectacularly efficient in terms of how they run their businesses.

“So, the reason I think they would approach it differently from City Football Group is because they have always been about winning trophies to extend the Etihad brand on a global basis.

“You can see that objective through the fact that City Football Group are a substantially loss-making organization throughout the company.

“I would imagine FSG, by contrast, will want a club that has the resources to get into Europe, where the money is.

“They’ll be looking for financial benefit, perhaps similarly to what they have done at Liverpool: buy a distressed asset at a knockdown price and sell off minority stakes to recoup their money a few years later.“

Liverpool-inspired move a non-starter in France

༺FSG were wary of the macroeconomic environment in French football too.

Ligue 1 has only just signed a new TV deal⛄ this week following months of anxiety among ownership circles that they would not get one over the line.

🍨Before that deal was struck, Ligue 1 were considering a direct-to-consumer model as a contingency option. Think Netflix for football.

🎐Liverpool have always been eager to sell their own broadcast rights, so some had speculated this could have proved an interesting case study for FSG to follow.

🍃But, regardless of the multi-club ambitions, Maguire does not believe this avenue is as realistic as some industry insiders would have you believe.

“I think a direct-to-consumer model would have been very difficult to implement, especially if you have no experience.

“If they want to sell their own rights, like we saw in the proposals for Super League and Project Big Picture, you’ll struggle.

“Liverpool were part of those two initiatives, remember. But I think DTC is harder nut to crack than most clubs realise.“

Brazil a target for FSG

🧔Liverpool are no strangers to the football talent that Brazil produces in droves.

꧑Philippe Countinho, Roberto Firmino, Fabinho and Alisson are among the most influential Liverpool stars in recent history after all.

𒆙FSG have previously been linked with acquiring a Brazilian club to take advantage of the environment, as well as capitalising on an increasingly lucrative commercial market.

꧟And Maguire projects that the South American country will still be top of the agenda despite FSG more recently looking into a European takeover with Bordeuax.

“The South American market continues to produce quality players,” he said.

“Getting into that market, which gives you the ability to identify them, you can see the benefits there.

“With the post-Brexit points-based system, there are substantial advantages in going to South America.

“FSG are suitably world-wise that they won’t get their pants taken down in what can be a ruthless market with a few charlatans around.“