The Qatari group that owns French champions Paris Saint-Germain is bidding to buy a controlling stake in English Championship club Leeds United, according to a Financial Times report on Saturday. The British daily claims that “people with direct knowledge of the negotiations” revealed that state-backed Qatar Sports Investments has been in talks with the club’s Italian owner Andrea Radrizzani over buying the second-tier club in the past few months. “Qatar Sports Investments will be entering English Football, and Leeds is the club of their choice,” the FT reported one person close to the talks as saying. The FT reports that talks had been on hold as Radrizzani waited to see how Leeds fared in their push for promotion to the Premier League under maverick manager Marcelo Bielsa. However they have restarted after Leeds were dramatically dumped out of the play-offs by Derby County earlier this month and missed out on well over £100 million from the moneybags top flight.

Source: The Guardian May 25, 2019 22:41 UTC