Kieran Maguire: Liverpool to dodge Uefa ‘snipers’ as £1bn deal announced
Liverpool will be eager to demonstrate to Uefa that there will be no connection between themselves and AC Milan following RedBird Capital’s takeover.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the £1billion buyout from the American private equity firm.
Milan announced on Wednesday (1 May) that RedBird, who own 10 per cent of Liverpool ownership group Fenway Sports Group, had completed the takeover deal.
Uefa rules forbid teams owned by the same source from meeting each other in the Champions League, Europa League or Europa Conference League.
Milan and Liverpool were in the same Champions League group in 2021-22.
And Maguire insists that the clubs will be keen to prove to Uefa’s “snipers” that there are enough degrees of separation to avoid a conflict of interest.
“Liverpool have a desire to show that the two clubs are completely independent,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams
“From an investment perspective, they certainly are because RedBird only owns a small portion of FSG.
“The last thing you want is for the snipers within football to say that the links are closer and that. After all, they could face each other in the Champions League.
“We saw the knots that Uefa got in when the Red Bull teams played each other.
“They are two teams big enough in their own right. They are sufficiently big to operate independently.”
FSG own the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburg Penguins outside of football.
RedBird meanwhile have a stake in French side Toulouse and sports agency Wasserman.
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