Sources: £350m Leeds United masterplan revealed
Andrea Radrizzani is confident Leeds United will be worth £350million if they secure a fourth consecutive season of Premier League football, Football Insider understands.
That would make them an even more attractive prospect to the San Francisco 49ers, whose investment arm owns a 44 per cent stake in the club.
Leeds’ value has been transformed during Radrizzani’s reign and it has continued to climb on the bank of three top-flight campaigns following 16 years in the EFL wilderness.
Speculation of a United takeover is never far away, even though there has been no move by 49ers Enterprises over the summer to increase its minority shareholding.
Leeds were valued at around £45m when Radrizzani bought the club in 2017 from unpopular previous owner Massimo Cellino.
A United source has told Football Insider that the Italian businessman and his boardroom allies believe the club will be worth at least £350million more than that if they are in the Premier League next season.
Radrizzani bought Leeds in 2017, initially acquiring a 50 per cent stake before fully buying out Massimo Cellino in May of that year.
He reduced his 100 per cent holding to around 88 per cent when 49ers Enterprises bought £11 million worth of shares, thought to be around 12 per cent of the club.
They have subsequently upped their stake to 44 per cent through subsequent investment that has valued the club at over the £250m mark.
The US investors have not increased their share since last November, which was their second time in the year they had increased their stake.
Football Insider’s finance expert Kieran Maguire believes Leeds could benefit from the economic developments in the UK.
He says the fall in value of the pound is “making the deal better from an American investors’ perspective”.
In other news, Leeds United expert backs new investors after Gary Neville hits out – ‘I can’t believe it’.