By Samindra Kunti
July 3 – Chelsea and super agent Pini Zahavi have saved Belgian top flight club Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz from its financial perils by investing a reported €8.5 million in the club to buy 90% of the shares.
Mouscron-Péruwelz went bankrupt in 2010 and has been in a fragile financial state ever since, generating little revenue and fan attraction. Lille OSC became a majority shareholder in the club, but parted ways with Mouscron-Péruwelz this season. The Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said Al Said, with an estimated net worth of $700 million, was rumored to take over the club, but such a takeover never materialized.
Now Zahavi, who is a leading player agent and circulates in the higher echelons of the Premier League, including in the inner circle of Roman Abramovich, using a smoke screen via a Maltese front company, with former Nantes president Jean-Luc Gripond and Cameroonian agent Teny Yerima acting as negotiators in the deal, has acquired a majority stake in Mouscron-Péruwelz.
Chelsea may want to use Mouscron-Péruwelz to blood younger players allowing them to develop in the context of top-flight football. Zahavi is prepared to pay €8.5 million to buy 90% of the shares, but Mouscron-Péruwelz demands that the club keeps investing in its local talent.
“We hope to have ensured our stay in the top-flight for the next few seasons,” said Mouscron-Péruwelz president Edward Van Daele. “The takeover of the club by a group of investors around Zahavi is a fact. We have approved this unanimously and will spend the next few days with the last formalities and documents. From the start we had a good feeling about this investment group.”
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