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Chinese Investment Group Linked with £700m Liverpool Takeover

If you suspect FSG are only in it for a quick buck, here is your litmus test.

"Linda, how many zeros are in a billion?"
"Linda, how many zeros are in a billion?"
Michael Regan/Getty Images

In case the EUROs, hooliganism and preposterous transfer links involving outlandish release clauses wasn't enough to satisfy your football fix this summer, here are some takeover rumours. Reports are emerging that investment group SinoFortone - backed by the Chinese government - have been attempting to purchase LFC in a bid worth around £700m, as sum in tune with the appraisal the club was given by Forbes last year.

The proposal was first raised in March, but current owners FSG have so far been unreceptive. SinoFortone - who are involved in a number of construction projects in the UK - are thought to be open to the idea of partial ownership in order to give John W. Henry, Tom Werner and the rest of the FSG leadership the option of a longer-term exit strategy.

Whether FSG are at all interested in selling the club is another matter. The new Premier League television rights deal is likely to increase the worth of the club further, and the owners are reportedly confident that Jürgen Klopp can bring the kind of success that would see further growth in value and would like to be on hand to witness it. This runs contrary to the persistent idea that FSG have only ever been interested in LFC as a short-term project for swift monetary gain.

This notion - no doubt fueled by suspicion after the disastrous mismanagement of the club's previous owners - has lingered in certain segments of the fan base ever since the ownership group first purchased the club from the brink of administration in 2010, despite that FSG have consistently flirted with the limits of Financial Fair Play backing their managers to the edge of what the club's income will allow.

With their initial outlay a mere £300m, the money on offer from SinoFortone would seem to good to turn down for owners not interested in the continuing prosperity of the club. That FSG appear to have little interest in taking that money and leaving Anfield behind would seem to give an indication as to their long-term commitment to the Reds.

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