Buyers line up for Liverpool FC

LIVERPOOL Football Club has begun talks with a Syrian businessman about a potential sale of the club.

According to a report in The Sunday Times, Yahi Kirdi, who played international football for Syria, claims to have financial backing from a group of Arabian businessmen and has spoken to the club’s bankers, RBS, about a potential deal.

The club’s current owners – US-based businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hanks – owe the bank around £300m from their purchase of the club three years ago.

The newspaper reported that Gillett has decided that Kirdi is the most serious potential buyer for the club, which the pair put up for sale in May when they appointed British Airways chairman Martin Broughton to handle negotiations.

However, other reports suggest that Kenneth Huang – a former US stockbroker representing a group of Chinese businessmen – is more likely to come up with the money needed than the Kirdi consortium, which has already had one approach for the club back in April rebuffed.

The club has been valued by analysts at around £400m.