In La Liga in the 2021-22 season, there are two Chinese clubs: Chen Yansheng's Espanyol, China's Wu Lei playing for the team; Granada, ranked 17th, the club president is Yi Rentao after 80. From March 9 to 11, sources such as ass, ESPN, and Abezel confirmed that wealthy businessmen from the United States wanted to buy Espanyol.
Chen Yansheng
The Spaniard's owner is Chen Yansheng, who acquired a 54% stake in Espanyol in January 2016, becoming the club's largest shareholder. Today, Chen Yansheng holds a 99.6% stake in the Spaniards. In the 2021-22 La Liga season, espanyol as a promotion horse is ranked 11th and relegated.
American businessman
According to the Ass newspaper, there are American businessmen who want to buy Espanyol Club, and there are many investors involved: NBA Orlando Magic (Devos family), NFL Minnesota Vikings (Wilf family), MLS Orlando City owner.
In the Premier League, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal clubs are all assets of the American boss, and La Liga has only one Club with an American owner: Mallorca. Sports club operators from the United States also want to expand their football footprint.
Screenshot of ass
Espanyol insiders told As that the club "receives more than a dozen requests for purchases each year." Rumors of American businessmen buying Spaniards are perfectly normal. As a club owner, is Chen Yansheng willing to sell? Ass confirmed that Chen Yansheng had entrusted representatives to contact and negotiate with American businessmen.
In the past six years, Chen Yansheng has paid a lot for the Spaniards, investing far more than 200 million euros. Aspen and other media pointed out that it is not yet known what the purchase price of the US consortium is, but one thing is certain: the club has previously rejected a 200 million euro (equivalent to 1.4 billion yuan) bid. If you want to buy Spaniards, less than 300 million euros (equivalent to 2.1 billion yuan) is exempt from talking.
Wu Lei
Chinese fans care about Espanyol because Chinese international Wu Lei plays for the team. However, Wu Lei, who has been in the franchise for 3 years, is in a trough period. In the 2021-22 La Liga season, Wu Lei only played 317 minutes, 0 goals and 0 assists, and did not get the trust of the manager. Wu Lei's value has fallen from 10 million euros in the summer of 2019 to 2.5 million euros now. If the Spaniards change the American boss, Wu Lei's situation will be more difficult.