City group close to acquiring Palermo
Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that The City Football Group, which owns Premier League leaders Manchester City, and several other clubs, came close to buying Palermo, a third-tier rival, by acquiring 80% of the club for 6 million euros.
Palermo president Dario Miri is about to sell 80% of the club's shares to City Football Group, which already owns about 10 clubs around the world, the newspaper added.
The current owner of the club, who is seeking to return to the second division, will retain the League of Lights at a rate that will give him participation in the management, but over time the club can ensure that its ranks are strengthened in accordance with the share that City group will acquire.
Palermo will play in the playoffs for promotion to the Second Division, and such a deal will undoubtedly increase the chance of a second-tier return.
The Citi Group, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, owns more than 10 clubs around the world.
Sheikh Mansour clearly has a global vision, and the Palermo brand will allow the group to look forward to ambitious goals in Italy.
City are one of the strongest names in football, with a majority stake in Manchester City, New York City and Melbourne City, and announced last month the acquisition of Dutch club N.A.C. Breda.
Breda became the fifth European club to be added to City's football clubs, along with Manchester City, Girona, Trios and Lomel.
Trails were the last club to be acquired by City Football Group in 2020, and the group has clubs in New York, Uruguay, and the group also has an extensive presence in Asia and Oceania, where it owns clubs in Australia, Japan, China and India.
The group has also invested money in Yokohama F. Marinos" in Japan, Montevideo City Turk in Uruguay, Girona in Spain, Sichuan Gionio in China, Mumbai City in India, Lomel in Belgium, trails in France.
Brazilian press reports recently indicated that the group had made an offer to buy Brazilian champions Atlético Mineiro for about 1 billion Brazilian riyals ($195.64 million), but the offer was rejected as too low.
