49ers Enterprises are ready to pay £170million for Leeds United takeover after relegation
The 49ers Enterprises are ready to pay £170million for Leeds United after the club’s relegation to the Championship was confirmed, according to Phil Hay.
Sam Allardyce’s side fell to a bitterly disappointing 4-1 defeat against Spurs at Elland Road on Sunday (28 May) to confirm their place in the second division with Southampton and Leicester City.
In his latest piece for The Athletic (28 May), Hay shared the implications that relegation would have on Andrea Radrizzani’s sale of the West Yorkshire club, with the previous £500million Premier League valuation slashed significantly to around £150million initially, but that appears to have gone up.
“In the EFL, 49ers Enterprises reckoned that Leeds would be worth closer to £150million than £500million, based on the drop in revenue they would suffer,” he wrote.
“At most, it would pay just under £170million. It was not prepared to finalise a takeover without relegation contingencies and an impasse developed, making the January window complicated.”
Move on
It was always thought that relegation would severely impact the price that Radrizzani could get for the club, but this figure will be gut-wrenching for the Italian businessman.
Considering he previously had iconic figure Marcelo Bielsa at the helm, and the club were seemingly on the way up the Premier League table after getting promoted in 2019/20, the dramatic fall from grace would have come as a surprise to everyone.
Luckily for Leeds, it seems like the 49ers are still keen to take Radrizzani’s shares and complete the takeover, despite the crushing blow of relegation.
Even though the figure is £330million lower than initially expected, the whole Leeds fanbase will still be crossing their fingers that it is completed in the near future.
Elland Road is likely to be a hive of activity this summer, but hopefully, these sweeping changes can allow the club to move forward in a fresh direction under fresh leadership.
In other Leeds United news, David Prutton has offered his assessment on the “ultimate slap in the face” to the club’s fans.