Latest news with #RealMadrid
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Liverpool in race against time to complete £126m Florian Wirtz transfer as Bayer Levekusen double-deal targeted
Wirtz's team-mate is also on his way to Anfield GO WITH THE FLO GO WITH THE FLO Liverpool in race against time to complete £126m Florian Wirtz transfer as Bayer Levekusen double-deal targeted Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LIVERPOOL are in a race against time to seal the £126million record signing of Florian Wirtz before he joins up with Germany. Bayer Leverkusen star Wirtz is due to report for international duty tomorrow ahead of the Nations League semi-final with Portugal next Wednesday. 1 Liverpool are pushing to complete a deal for Florian Wirtz Credit: Getty The attacking midfielder wants a deal agreed before he heads off. But the Germans will not go below their £126m valuation, a British record deal from a foreign club. Leverkusen turned down Liverpool's opening bid of £86m plus add-ons earlier this week. They want £20m more up front, plus clauses to take it up to £126m. Wirtz, 22, is thought to have agreed personal terms on a five-year deal. Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong flew to the UK on Tuesday for a medical ahead of his own £29.6m move to Anfield. Frimpong has emerged as the chosen man to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield. The boyhood Red played his last game for the club on Sunday ahead of his exit. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Alexander-Arnold is set to join Real Madrid in a free transfer, with Los Blancos hoping to finalise the deal before the Club World Cup. The full-back will join former Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso at the Santiago Bernabeu. Frimpong jets into UK with Leverkusen star to complete £30m Liverpool move Alonso was appointed as the new Real Madrid boss last week. He signed a three-year deal upon his arrival and will officially take control on June 1. Real Madrid face Al-Hilal in their first Club World Cup match next month.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Liverpool in race against time to complete £126m Florian Wirtz transfer as Bayer Levekusen double-deal targeted
LIVERPOOL are in a race against time to seal the £126million record signing of Florian Wirtz before he joins up with Germany. Bayer Leverkusen star Wirtz is due to report for international duty tomorrow ahead of the Nations League semi-final with Portugal next Wednesday. The attacking midfielder wants a deal agreed before he heads off. But the Germans will not go below their £126m valuation, a British record deal from a foreign club. Leverkusen turned down Liverpool 's opening bid of £86m plus add-ons earlier this week. They want £20m more up front, plus clauses to take it up to £126m. Wirtz, 22, is thought to have agreed personal terms on a five-year deal. Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong flew to the UK on Tuesday for a medical ahead of his own £29.6m move to Anfield. Frimpong has emerged as the chosen man to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield. The boyhood Red played his last game for the club on Sunday ahead of his exit. Alexander-Arnold is set to join Real Madrid in a free transfer, with Los Blancos hoping to finalise the deal before the Club World Cup. The full-back will join former Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso at the Santiago Bernabeu. He signed a three-year deal upon his arrival and will officially take control on June 1.
Bloomberg
6 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Real Madrid's $7.1 Billion Valuation Stretches Away From Rivals
Real Madrid, whose revenues have been supercharged by the revamp of its Santiago Bernabéu stadium, has seen its valuation pull away from its major rivals. The Spanish club was worth €6.3 billion ($7.1 billion) as of January, a 23% year-on-year increase, Football Benchmark said in its latest annual report.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Trent Alexander-Arnold pens emotional 15-word tribute to Liverpool fans as he bids farewell after 'perfect send-off' in title parade
Trent Alexander-Arnold has paid tribute to Liverpool fans ahead of his departure from the club at the end of the season as a free agent. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Alexander-Arnold, 26, wrote: 'Perfect send off. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I love my city'. The right-back has had a farewell campaign to remember as he played an influential part in Liverpool's run to the title in Arne Slot 's first season at the helm. However, he has opted not to renew his contract on Merseyside and is set for a new challenge elsewhere having been on the Reds' books since the age of six. While his next destination has not yet been officially confirmed, he has been linked continuously with Real Madrid. Los Blancos are hopeful of signing him early in time for the Club World Cup, which begins on June 14. Liverpool are set to replace Alexander-Arnold with Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong, who has agreed a five-year deal with the Reds. However, the deal has not been confirmed as Slot side's must first activate his £29.5million release clause and announce the completion of his medical. When asked if Frimpong had already undergone a medical after Liverpool's defeat to Brighton on May 19, Slot responded: 'What do you think? 'I think what we all know is the moment we announce it, that is the moment to talk about it in general. We haven't announced anything so no need to talk about anyone.' Alexander-Arnold would be another big addition to Real's backline, after the club triggered the £50million release clause of Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen. In addition to landing Frimpong, Liverpool also remain keen on Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez and a centre back after missing out on his former team-mate Huijsen. During Liverpool's title celebrations, he failed to hold it together, first breaking down during the rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone. He then sat along on the pitch, before crying more as he embraced his family. It was a far cry from the boos he received when he was substituted on against Arsenal, and Slot thanked the fans for sticking together. Slot said: 'It went brilliant when our fans are together. I don't think you see many celebrations like we had them today. It's no surprise to me that the fans were brilliant again today as they were throughout the whole season, as they were towards Trent. 'He deserved it. I am very happy for him and everyone in and around the club that things worked out the way they did. 'Everybody could see how difficult he had it after the game. That tells you how hard it is to leave a club like this. That's all we can try to do, to make it so hard for the players to leave. 'Many of them stay. Trent made a decision to go, unfortunately for us. But it was great for him to have a farewell as he had today.' .
New York Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Nine Premier League clubs in top 20 richest in Europe, report says
The Premier League's status as the richest domestic league in global football has been underlined by a new report into European club valuations, with nine of the top 20 coming from England. Now in its 10th year, the Football Clubs' Valuation report is published by the Budapest-based Football Benchmark Group and it ranks the top 32 clubs in Europe by enterprise value, which is the total value of the club's equity plus its net debt. Advertisement Having become the first club to achieve an enterprise value of €5billionn last year, Real Madrid burst through the €6bn mark this year to top the ranking with a valuation of €6.3bn (£5.2bn; $6.5bn) this year, almost £1bn clear of Manchester City in second place, with Manchester United not far behind their cross-city rivals. While Football Benchmark believes that Manchester United's enterprise value has grown by 4 per cent over the last 12 months from €4.9bn to €5.1bn, that currently converts to £4.3bn, which is lower than the price Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought in at when he paid £1.25bn for 27.7 per cent of the club in early 2024. Given the club's on-field struggles, the British billionaire may be grateful that his investment has not fallen further. Barcelona and Bayern Munich round out the top five in this year's report, with Liverpool and a resurgent Arsenal close behind, followed by Paris Saint-Germain, with Tottenham Hotspur, the biggest climber over the last decade, and Chelsea completing the top 10. It would seem that Ratcliffe is not the only Premier League investor who will have to be patient to see a return, as Football Benchmark believes Chelsea's enterprise value has dropped eight per cent year-on-year — the only faller in the top-10 — with the west London club now worth £2.5bn, which is what the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital led consortium paid Roman Abramovich for the team in 2022. Overall, though, the report is another glowing reference for the Premier League's financial success, with West Ham United, Aston Villa (up a remarkable 42 per cent year-on-year) and Everton all making the top 20. With the Premier League continuing to stretch away from its domestic competitors in terms of broadcast, commercial and matchday revenue, as well as securing six Champions League qualification spots next season, its position is only going to get stronger. Advertisement However, increased revenues are not the same as increased profits, with most of the clubs in the report posting large losses last season, although those deficits have reduced every season since 2022, when COVID-19 plunged European football into crisis. The aggregate loss for the 32 most valuable clubs in Europe last season was just over £430m, down from the catastrophic figure for 2022 of almost £2.3bn. In his foreword to the report, Football Benchmark CEO and founder Andrea Sartori notes that 'profitability remains a key challenge…largely due to squad costs growing at a faster pace than operating revenues over the past decade (78 per cent vs 72 per cent)'. But Sartori does see signs of the industry returning to its pre-pandemic levels of sustainability, the UEFA's new financial fair play regime starting to exert some downward pressure on costs, while club revenues continue to grow. The average squad cost-to-revenue ratio among the top 32 fell from 95 per cent in 2023 to 82 per cent this year, with UEFA aiming to bring clubs down to 70 per cent next year. Club valuations, of course, are notoriously difficult to calculate, with the most accurate assessment being they are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. But Football Benchmark does explain its methodology in its report. Like most people who attempt to make these estimates, Sartori's team uses the revenue-multiple approach to valuing clubs, with each club's annual operating revenue multiplied by a number that is benchmarked against clubs from the same league that have recently been bought or are publicly listed. Football Benchmark then finesses that number with a 'proprietary algorithm' that is based on five parameters: profitability, popularity as measured by social media followings, sporting potential as defined by squad value, the league's broadcasting deals and stadium ownership. Advertisement Overall, the average revenue multiple for the enterprise values in Football Benchmark's reports over the last decade has risen from 3.4 to 4.9, which is impressive but still half the average revenue multiple that is applied to work out the value of NFL franchises. In fact, all teams in the major North American leagues are valued with a higher revenue multiple than the top European football sides, because there are stricter cost controls, longer broadcast deals, newer stadiums and no relegation. The report also explains why some teams that are almost certainly worth more than the £392m valuation given to the 32nd club in the list, Spain's Real Betis, are not included in the rankings — Newcastle United, for example, who are 15th in world football in terms of annual revenue, according to the most recent edition of the Deloitte Money League report. To qualify for the Football Benchmark report, you must be in the top 50 in operating revenues and UEFA's five-year club coefficient, or top 30 by social media followers as of January 1, 2025. This year's Carabao Cup winners do not meet the second and third criteria but another helping of Champions League football next season may remedy that.
