Ed Woodward, the previous Manchester United chief, has been approached about becoming a member of the car which owns stakes in golf equipment together with Crystal Palace and Olympique Lyonnais.
Sources stated on Thursday that it was not sure that Mr Woodward’s appointment would go forward, however confirmed that he had been approached about his first mainstream soccer directorship since ending his lengthy stint on the former Premier League champions.
Mr Woodward spent 17 years at Previous Trafford, having performed a key position within the Glazer household’s debt-fuelled takeover of the membership in 2005.
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Eagle Soccer, which is managed by the American businessman John Textor, is anticipated to file confidentially with US regulators for an preliminary public providing within the subsequent fortnight.
The car owns a forty five% stake in Crystal Palace, which it has been attempting to promote for months however might now retain because of the membership’s improved efficiency in English soccer’s high flight.
The Eagle Soccer board is known to have added Mr Textor’s former FuboTV colleague Alex Bafer, the Trilith Studios president and chief govt Frank Patterson and finance govt Sam Lynn as administrators in current weeks.
Its lenders are at present represented on the board, though these administrators are anticipated to step down within the occasion of the corporate changing into publicly traded.
If the IPO proceeds, Eagle Soccer is anticipated to attempt to elevate a number of hundred million {dollars} at a valuation of greater than $2bn.
The car additionally owns the Brazilian champions Botafogo, RW Molenbeek in Belgium and FC Florida.
Final yr, Mr Textor held talks about shopping for Everton FC, however was finally outbid by the AS Roma proprietor, Dan Friedkin.
Had he been profitable, Mr Textor would have needed to full the sale of his Palace stake beneath Premier League possession guidelines.
Raine Group, which dealt with the sale of Chelsea in 2022 and a minority stake in Manchester United to Sir Jim Ratcliffe the next yr, has been overseeing the potential disposal of Eagle Soccer’s Crystal Palace stake.
Quite a lot of events have expressed critical curiosity, together with a gaggle suggested by the soccer financier Keith Harris.
Nevertheless, a transaction isn’t regarded as imminent.
Prior to now, Mr Textor has spoken about his perception that public possession of soccer groups gives followers with larger transparency in regards to the working of their golf equipment.
He has described this because the democratisation of possession – a problem prone to be on the coronary heart of a invoice on soccer regulation when it’s reintroduced to parliament by the brand new Labour authorities.
If Eagle Soccer’s submitting with the US Securities and Alternate Fee proceeds within the coming weeks, its inventory could be anticipated to begin buying and selling a number of months later.
Mr Textor couldn’t be reached for remark, whereas Mr Woodward didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Thursday.
