Former Liverpool CEO Peter Moore believes Fenway Sports Group are paving the way to hand over full ownership of the Reds to the 1892 Holdings consortium that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
It was confirmed last month that the consortium, led by former Queens Park Rangers director Amit Bhatia, will take on a 38% equity stake in the club. The value of the investment is believed to be close to £2 billion, and as part of the agreement 1892 Holdings have an option to purchase a controlling stake within the next 12 months.
Moore dismisses Amazon angle
While Moore, who was Liverpool chief executive under FSG for more than three years before leaving in August 2020, has dismissed the notion Bezos will be heavily involved, he expects Bhatia to ultimately become "owner" of the club.
"When an entity comes in at the valuation they apparently have for 38% of the club, there has been a conversation about what ownership then looks like," he said. "You don't acquire that percentage for billions of dollars without having a path to full ownership."
"The Amazon angle is a little silly, because Jeff Bezos has hundreds of multimillion-dollar investments. He has never said a word about Liverpool. I assume he knows he's an investor."
Bhatia's path to ownership
Moore added: "It's really Amit Bhatia, and as you may have seen, he is married to the daughter of Mittal, which is where the real money is. To his credit, Amit has been at Queens Park Rangers for 16 years. He's a football guy, he loves football."
"A number of friends of mine have met with him over the last few weeks, and he's a real football guy. He is the person to keep a very close eye on as a future owner, and I always put that in inverted commas, of Liverpool Football Club."
Bhatia will become Liverpool vice-chairman once the deal has been given regulatory approval, a further indication of the change in structure behind the scenes in football operations at FSG.
FSG's multi-club model abandoned
With the Reds' parent company no longer pursuing a multi-club model, their chief executive of football Michael Edwards departed earlier this year and was followed by Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes.
Moore said: "The theory of multi-club ownership is the synergy of having clubs around the world. You can move players around, share players on loan, and give them experience in different leagues. You can have operational efficiencies and best practices, and move executives from one club to another to get international experience."
"In theory, it's all great. I'm not totally sure whether it works in a way that justifies the expenditure, particularly at City Football Group, who have multiple clubs around the world, although I'm sure in their minds it works very well."
Speaking to Flashscore, Moore added: "FSG lured Michael Edwards back as CEO of football on the theory that they were going to acquire a club. That's what he wanted to do, but it hasn't worked out, and that's why you're seeing Michael leaving and Richard Hughes, the sporting director, going to Saudi Arabia."
"FSG are very, very savvy investors, and if they weren't seeing the upside of buying another football club and what the synergies with Liverpool would be, then they're going to say it's not worth their time."
