Usmanov looked at Liverpool before Arsenal move

Before he set his eyes on Arsenal, Uzbek businessman Alisher Usmanov looked into buying fellow English club Liverpool.

According to The Guardian, sources familiar with the situation, David Moores, then the Liverpool chairman, met with Usmanov representatives. But Moores wanted an entire sell-off – not what Usmanov had planned – and Liverpool's new stadium costs caused Usmanov some angst.

So U.S. businessmen Tom Hicks and Geroge Gillett took over Liverpool. Usmanov has gone on to Arsenal, where he gradually has picked up 23 percent of the club, thanks in part to the 12 percent from former chairman David Dein. That leaves him 1 percent behind lead shareholder Danny Fiszman.

Advisors still were trying to get him to take over a club, such as Tottenham Hotspur or Derby County, in one swoop. But he preferred the steady investment of Arsenal.

Usmanov has bought in for GBP 125 million, and is looking to add shares. He is, sources say, currently not looking to reach the 30-percent mark which would trigger an automatic takeover.

The Arsenal board, which holds around 45 percent of the club's shares and feels it has sway over another 6 percent, have signed an agreement not to sell to any outside investor until next April at the earliest.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.