“We’re facing a global crisis” – Man City owners on delay in club investment

Manchester City’s owners, the City Football Group, were supposed to have taken over AS Nancy by now.

Reports of talks to do so emerged earlier this year and everything went very quickly, with it assumed Nancy would be brought into the City family, and potentially provide another club for Manchester City to loan players to.

Indeed, it was all supposed to be finalised by the end of March, with a press conference for early April set to reveal the deal and the new relationship.

Then came the Covid-19 lockdown, and it’s hit the deal hard.

Nancy president Jacques Rousselot expressed his ‘concern’ on Friday. He’d already notified the club’s smaller shareholders of the deal, and has himself been looking to sell his interest in the club for some years.

French newspaper L’Equipe look at the situation on Sunday, and they’ve spoken to a source at the City Football Group, who told them: “There is still the will to buy AS Nancy. We are facing a global crisis. Today there are aspects that we do not control. But we haven’t changed direction.”

That should come as a relief to those in charge of the French club, but it can’t be ruled out that Manchester City’s owners look to get a discount on the price, given the economic hit to football in recent weeks.