Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani has revealed more about his ambitious plans to place the Whites in the middle of a Europe-wide network of clubs.
Earlier this season the Italian told the Associated Press that he was considering creating a group of clubs in a similar fashion to Manchester City, who own nine other clubs across the world through their City Football Group.
Talking to SportsPro magazine, the Italian has put more flesh on the bones of this idea, discussing how it would help Leeds United and where his 'evolution' of the idea is currently at.
“I do believe that a consolidated group in football, with multiple club ownership, can be a benefit in terms of synergies and creating value in the development of the players, and in some cases also on the commercial side,” he said.
“It’s something that I’m studying and exploring. I’m already in touch with some potential target clubs to acquire. I haven’t made any decisions yet. I’m still in an evaluation phase and I think that the model I have in mind is definitely different to what I see at the moment. It would be more focused on two or three countries in Europe where we can have close integration on the football side."
City Football Group's network operates across five continents, with the Red Bull group having clubs in Austria, Germany, Brazil and the United States of America, but Radrizzani is looking at a more focused operation and was last month linked with interest in Valencia in a report in The Times.
“The City [Football Group] and Red Bull models are very different; they have clubs in different continents," he contonued. "I don’t think that’s what I want to do. I want to do something much more integrated on the football side so there’s no big gap between the level of football quality between these clubs.”
Radrizzani has also issued an update on investment talks, maintaining his position that he continues to be open to bringing additional partners on board, if the conditions are right.
“Something that I always want to consider is if the partner is the right partner, [someone] I feel comfortable with, and that supports my vision, my strategy, and gives us the opportunity to continue our growth with more resources.
“At this moment we are not close to anything. We are having discussions with several interested parties. Some of these have been good friends for a long time and want to help me to reach my goal. When it’s the right moment and the right terms, we can progress with these discussions.”
