‘I find it curious’ – Jordan baffled by PSG owner’s minority stake interest in Tottenham
Simon Jordan has questioned why the owners of Paris Saint-Germain would want a minority stake in Tottenham after reports of interest.
There have been reports this week that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has had held a meeting with PSG CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi over potential investment in the north London club.
Qatar Sports Investments bought the French side in 2011 and the club have since been the dominant force in French football, although they’ve so far failed to win a Champions League.
Levy and Al-Khelaifi are said to have met in a London hotel last week to hold exploratory talks over a possible partnership with CBS Sports claiming that ‘possible investment was discussed and that Al-Khelaifi was acting solely in a QSI not European Club Association capacity’.
On the possible sale of Tottenham shares to Qatar Sports Investments, Jordan told talkSPORT: “It depends on the price. If you put £1billion down on Tottenham and value them at £4billion, then I don’t think that makes them particularly more appealing than Liverpool.
“The price break would make them more appealing. I find it curious to understand why Qatar would want to own a minority stake in Tottenham.
“I would think there’s either legislative positions that would prevent them from doing more than that or maybe that this is a spate to catch a mackerel.
“They’ve got plenty of money and they don’t need to be minority shareholders in any football club.
“That [a full buyout] would probably be the likely outcome. I think there’s a point that Joe Lewis will say ‘that’s enough for me thank you very much’.
“If there’s enough money on the table then I’m sure that will come. Whether that leaves Daniel Levy in situ or not is another discussion.
“Tottenham as a football club have got all their ducks in a line, except on the pitch. Commercially, they produce the best outcomes in football a few years ago with the biggest profitability ever seen by a Premier League football club, and I think football full stop, at £130m.
“They’ve built a phenomenal stadium. Okay, there’s some debt against that but it’s the cheapest debt you can get as Daniel got it from the Covid relief scheme to get some money into the building along with the NFL money.”
When asked by Jim White whether he reckons the PSG owners will buy Tottenham, Jordan replied: “No, I don’t think so. I think a Premier League club maybe. There is a rivalry and look across the Gulf at one another between Saudi and Qatar.
“Of course, you’ve got PIF (Public Investment Fund) at Newcastle. I never understood the purchase of Paris Saint-Germain, but they bought it for £70m and it’s not worth £4bn, according to Nasser [Al-Khelaifi].
“Having spent time with him, he knows his sport. My opinion of him is not ‘because I’ve been bought and paid for’, but they’ve been changed because I’ve understood the animal.
“The biggest argument I’ve always had about Middle Eastern money is that it corrupts, in terms of the financial landscape being influenced by hyperinflation, the best argument I got from Nasser Al-Khelaifi is if they don’t want it then get governance to be stronger.
“If you don’t want football being taken over by Middle Eastern money to use it for different methodologies, then get football to grow a pair of balls and govern it properly.”
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