As well as looking for a new manager, Liverpool’s owners are currently on the search for another football club to buy.
From a Reds’ supporters point of view, there’s little question about which of those two things is the most important.
Nevertheless, it’s still interesting to hear progress reports on how FSG are going about their hunt for a second purchase. Their wish to bring another club into their portfolio is the main reason Michael Edwards is back in the picture after all.
There have also been claims that a second club in the FSG stable could really help Liverpool. It looks likely that John Henry and co will use another side as a way of developing talent for the Reds first-team. So, for all of those reasons, it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Thankfully, the Liverpool ECHO are doing just that. They have spoken to American football investor, former owner of Danish side Helsingor, and current global football club management and investment strategy consultant Jordan Garndner to get the latest.
What are FSG now planning
FSG have slowly been making progress in their ambitions to bring a second club on board. Like everything the Americans do, it looks set to be a well thought out and thorough process.
In terms of personnel, obviously Edwards is already on board as the company’s CEO of football. But they also look set to employ Pedro Marques, the current technical director at Benfica. This is serious.
According to Gardner though, it’s unlikely that FSG will attempt to set up a series of similarly functioning clubs in the way of the City Group – who Marques previously worked for – for example.
Instead, the Liverpool owners will look at clubs they can use to funnel talent to Anfield.
“We don’t know exactly what Fenway Sports Group’s thought process is in terms of numbers of clubs and markets necessarily they’re targeting, but I don’t think there are any assumptions they’re going to build a City Football Group tomorrow, if ever,” says the expert.
“My guess would be that they’re much more targeted and much more structured, saying ‘Look, we’re going to buy a club in Portugal or buy a club in Belgium or Holland that’s specifically a feeder for us to develop either both our young players that are coming through our academy and a pipeline for us to bring in foreign talent’.”
Which clubs could this involve
There are surely a whole host of clubs Liverpool could target in any of the three countries Gardner mentions here.
In fact, of the three we’ve already looked at as potential second clubs, one of them – KV Oostende – is Belgian.
Portugal also feels like another relevant option. With Marques being Portuguese he’ll obviously have an intricate knowledge and plenty of existing relationships there.
It’s also worth mentioning that Liverpool’s prospective next manager – Ruben Amorim – is obviously Portuguese, too. In terms of long-term planning, perhaps acquiring a team from the new manager’s country could be a perfect way to get him on board. All speculation of course, but maybe there’s something in it.