Since April, when Neymar returned to his home club to watch the match between Santos and Audax Italiano, the versions about possible strategic alliance between the Brazilian club and Qatar Sports Investments. These negotiations were conducted between Neymar’s father, as a mediator, the president of Santos, Andres Rueda, and the president of the Parisian club, Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
As is known, the Brazilian club is going through serious financial problems, which has led the institution to a financial and sporting crisis from which it seems that it cannot get out on its own. It is in this critical context that the authorities are looking for a partner who will provide the necessary financial resources to save the club. The president Andrés Rueda explained that the project is to create a new company model that is not a Public Limited Company but instead provides a monetary contribution from a minority shareholder to deal with a debt of approximately 100 million Euros, according to the consultant’s estimate. Ernst & Young.
The landing of Arab capital in Brazilian soccer is related to the transformation of Brasileirao and many of the clubs in this league need to modernize their business format to boost competitiveness. In the case of Qatar Sport Investiments, the goal is to invest in Santos, but the main difficulty faced by the negotiators is that changing a club, a company that proposes to retain 51% of the shares, is a business model that is not convince the holding company.from Qatar. Apparently, the Qataris are looking for more control over the club and according to reports they are offering around 130 million euros. In addition, they will examine the purchase of the “Pelé” brand to link it commercially and use it as a strategy for the global relaunch of the club.
At the moment, negotiations are ongoing and their outcome is accelerating, so the future of this historic Brazilian club will be decided soon.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
