Wolves are the only team in the Premier League yet to win a game this season and the club’s supporters have been left frustrated with the ownership of Fosun Group
Former Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor has reportedly tabled a £400million bid to acquire Premier League outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers, amidst growing discontent with the current Molineux hierarchy.
Wolves are presently the only English side yet to secure a league victory this season. The last-minute loss to Burnley on Sunday leaves them languishing at the foot of the table, six points away from safety.
Post-match, the home crowd could be heard voicing their displeasure against the current owners, Fosun Group, who have been in charge since 2016. According to The Athletic, Textor, who offloaded a minority stake in Crystal Palace earlier this year, is eager to add Wolves to his multi-club group portfolio.
It’s understood that a proposal consisting of $200m (£150m) in cash and an additional $350m (£262.6m) in shares has been put forward to purchase the football club.
Textor currently holds stakes in Brazilian outfit Botafogo, French squad Olympique Lyonnais, and Belgium’s RWDM Brussels. The American tycoon is said to appreciate Wolves’ long-standing policy of recruiting Portuguese talent, aligning with the Eagle Football Group’s (EFG) strategy of introducing South American prospects to the European market.
However, the ‘bid’ comes with its own set of complications. The report suggests that Textor’s offer for Wolves was made in the same week a Brazilian court ordered the reversal of his decision to step down as Lyon’s club president to protect Botafogo, reports the Mirror.
Textor successfully staved off a potential administrative relegation to Ligue 2 for Lyon last summer, thereby maintaining his influential role in French football. He is believed to still hold the majority stake at EFG, Lyon’s parent company.
There’s also an ongoing legal tussle with primary lender Ares Management, who are trying to recoup the $425m (£320m) they lent to Textor for the acquisition of Lyon three years ago. The report states that negotiations are underway to reach a resolution that would see Textor keep Botafogo and Ares take over Lyon.
Another dispute involves EFG’s shareholders, Iconic Sports Eagle Investment, who claim they had an insurance policy on their $75m investment in EFG. This policy allowed Textor to repurchase Iconic’s EFG shares at a predetermined price if his plan to float EFG publicly failed.
In 2023, it did fail, and Textor did not buy back the shares within the agreed 12-month period.
In the week following his attempt to acquire Wolves, a Florida court rejected Textor’s request to have the case heard in the UK, given that EFG is a UK-based firm. This was followed by his appearance at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a separate case involving Atlanta United and Major League Soccer over the transfer instalments for Thiago Almada, who moved from Atlanta to Botafogo before transferring to Atlético Madrid.
On Friday, 17th October, an English court dismissed Textor’s plea to reject Iconic’s claim, which is valued at a hefty £70m. A full trial is set to unfold next year.
This follows on from the American losing two cases in Belgium, where he accused former RWDM Brussels’ owner, Thierry Dailly, of fraud. He’s also embroiled in a legal tussle with ex-Wolves and Botafogo manager Bruno Lage over potential job offers within EFG.
