Ex-Leeds United chief launches fresh club takeover bid with Real Madrid star
The former Leeds United chairman is eyeing a return to football club ownership.
Former Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has joined forces with Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois in a bid to buy Italian third-tier outfit Reggiana.
Radrizzani ceased control of Leeds following Premier League relegation in 2023, selling his majority stake to then-minority owners 49ers Enterprises who now have full power at Elland Road. After departing, the Italian businessman helped to save Sampdoria from bankruptcy in 2023 before selling his shares the following year.
Reggiana sit sixth in Italy’s third-tier Serie C with 87-year-old current owner Romano Amadei ready to sell his shares following a health scare. According to reports in Italy, there are three main groups eyeing a takeover with Radrizzani fronting one.
The former Leeds chairman is believed to have joined forces with sports-focused investment group NXTPlay, co-founded by current Real Madrid and Belgium goalkeeper Courtois. The company already hold minority shares in French outfit Le Mans, Belgian side Genk and Spanish third-tier club Extremadura.
The consortium involving Radrizzani is said to have tabled a binding offer with a deadline for proposals set for October 31, by which point the board of directors will meet to decide a preferred bidder. But intriguingly, a rival group from Brescia are also eyeing a potential bid and have been vouched for by a former advisor to Massimo Cellino.
Reggiana’s current technical director, Francesco Marroccu, is believed to have shown his support for the Brescia-based consortium. Prior to his current role, Marroccu was a presence at Elland Road during the first half of the 2016/17 campaign as an unofficial aide of Cellino’s.
Marroccu never held an official role at Leeds but worked for Cellino at both Cagliari and Brescia. Another consortium of Italian-American origin is also believed to have tabled an offer to buy Reggiana.
Radrizzani held a previous interest in taking over at Reggiana last year but talks fell through when majority shareholder Amadei changed the conditions of a deal. His health scare has changed the outlook with the former Leeds chairman given a fresh chance to pursue a potential takeover.
Radrizzani had ups and downs during his six years as majority shareholder at Leeds. The Italian will be remembered for playing a part in hiring the much-loved Marcelo Bielsa and overseeing a return to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.
But after finishing ninth, Leeds didn’t adequately back Bielsa in the transfer market and he was sacked midway through the following campaign. The Whites survived under Jesse Marsch but did drop back into the Championship the following campaign, the Canadian unsuccessfully succeeded by Javi Gracia and then Sam Allardyce.
Radrizzani’s final act involving Leeds left a sour taste, with reports in 2023 emerging that he offered Elland Road as collateral when securing a £26million loan to purchase Sampdoria. The former owner dismissed those reports as ‘speculation’ and said the stadium was ‘only part of the conversation’ with a different solution found.