Southampton have denied that the Chinese state has bought a stake in the club. The Financial Times has published documents suggesting that a Chinese state-owned company had bought a 23.95 per cent stake in Lander Sports, part-owned by Southampton's majority shareholder Gao Jisheng. Southampton told Sky Sports News on Wednesday that the China-based Lander Sports company was not used to buy 80 per cent of the club in August 2017. Instead Gao bought the club privately, using a UK-based company Lander Sports (UK) International Investment Co Limited. A Southampton spokesman went on to say that the UK company lists the Southampton owner as its sole shareholder.

Source: Sky sports April 10, 2019 11:48 UTC