The City Group has submitted an offer for the purchase of Atlético-MG, according to reports from Brazil.
Globo Esporte writes on Monday that Manchester City’s owners are looking to buy the Belo Horizonte giants for a fee around R$1bn (£150m).
It’s said three different sources confirmed that there was a meeting between Atlético-MG representatives and Ferran Soriano, even though the City Group chose not to comment on the talks for now.
The offer, however, was not enough for a successful negotiation for now. It’s said Galo’s board consider it to be too low, currently working with a valuation of R$2bn (£300m), and there’s ‘no hurry’ for a sale.
The purchase of clubs is something recent in Brazil. In the past few months, big sides such as Botafogo, Cruzeiro and Vasco da Gama have all been negotiated with foreign investors.
The big difference is that those clubs, despite being among the biggest in the country, have been going through hard times. Botafogo have just been promoted back to the first division, while Cruzeiro and Vasco are still playing the second this year.
That’s why the City Group buying Atlético-MG would be a quite bold move. The Galo are living golden times, as they’re the current champions of the league and the cup. So it’s no surprise they want to be bought for much more than others.
There have been many stories about Manchester City’s owners wanting to buy a club in Brazil, and just like they’ve done in other countries, the expectation would be for them to purchase a smaller side with bigger potential of growth. Now going straight for the league champions would be a strong way of joining Brazilian football.
