Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has provided his take on Wolves and their recently acquired investors.
The club announced this week that they had welcomed some new minority shareholders in the form of US firm Peak6, with the official statement claiming that Peak6 “will help Fosun Sports accelerate the club’s growth in North America by providing capital, expertise, visibility, and activation opportunities for Wolves and Wolves Esports across the USA”.
However, Maguire thinks that there might be something more long-term at play than the announcement is giving off.
Speaking about the news on The Price Of Football podcast, he hinted that this could eventually lead to the American group taking over the club in a full capacity from current owners Fosun:
“It looks like they’re dipping their toes in. Certainly, talking to people from the US, they do see English football as being undervalued. It also, I think, is further indication that Chinese owners have lost an element of enthusiasm for football here in Europe in terms of ownership.
“And that’s come sort of directly or indirectly from guidance from the Chinese government. And there’s always a close relationship between Chinese governments and individual companies. So whether this is going to result in a larger stake in due course, we’re not sure.”
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The government guidance that Maguire mentions refer to the ruling party ordering Chinese investors to withdraw their investment from European clubs after: “It became clear to the Chinese government that there weren’t going to be the financial returns, or the playing returns associated with making such an investment.”
Fosun have been relatively good owners at Wolves, with their transfer record showing that they have been willing to spend big, though that has declined on a yearly basis recently, with underlying factors potentially also playing their part.
So you would hope that this isn’t the prelude to them moving out of the club, because they have done some great work at Molineux, and hopefully they’ll be in a position to carry that on into the future alongside these new investors rather than just leaving them to it.
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