Manchester City’s owners set to add an ELEVENTH team to their network ‘as they close in on deal to purchase Italian side Palermo with the takeover to be wrapped up in the next few days’
- City Football Group representatives are in talks with Palermo’s president
- More talks are expected but the deal is expected to be completed within days
- Palermo would become the 11th club to be under the City Football Group
Manchester City’s owners are closing in on adding an eleventh team to their stable of clubs as they are reportedly days away from completing the takeover of Italian side Palermo.
Sky Sports Italia have reported that representatives from the City Football Group have flown to Milan for talks with Palermo’s president Dario Mirri.
More talks are expected over the next few days and it’s said that only the ‘last set of paperwork and bureaucracy is left to be ironed out’.
Manchester City’s owners are closing in on a deal to takeover Italian side Palermo
Members of the City Football Group have reportedly flown to Milan to meet with the president of Palermo (Ferran Sorriano, chief executive of Manchester City pictured)
City Football Group became interested in the idea of taking over Palermo back in April and meetings have taken place ever since.
Palermo have been a club in turmoil over the past few seasons, having gone bankrupt back in 2019.
The side which had three fifth-placed finishes in Serie A between 2006 and 2010 were automatically relegated to Serie D.
Just last week, they secured promotion back to Serie B via the play-offs, and potential new investment from the City Football Group would boost their chances of returning to the Serie A for the first time since 2017.
Palermo will join a stable of 11 clubs in which Manchester City are the flagship team
The club has nurtured an array of top talent in their recent history including Edinson Cavani, Paulo Dybala, Javier Pastore, Andrea Belotti and Luca Toni.
Palermo would become the first team from Italy to join the City Football Group.
Manchester City are the flagship side in the group which also includes New York City, Melbourne City, Girona in Spain, Lommel in Belgium and Troyes in France.
Other teams involved include New York City (pictured), Melbourne City and Troyes in France
Palermo fans seen celebrating their promotion to Serie B last week – just three years after the former Serie A side went into bankruptcy and were automatically relegated to Serie D
They also own Montevideo City (Uruguay), Sichuan Jiuniu (China), Mumbai City (India), and a 20 per cent stake in Yokohama Marinos (Japan).
Their pursuit of Dutch side NAC Breda failed however after furious backlash from the club’s supporters.
As reported by the Guardian, CFG agreed a deal in March to buy NAC for €7m only for hardcore supporters of the club to react furiously as they ‘did not want to lose their identity or become a factory for loan players’.