England’s top five biggest clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal – are in talks that may see them exit Europe’s elite club competition, the UEFA Champions League.
According to The Sun Sport, the club’s bosses were on Tuesday evening involved in serious talks with Stephen Ross, American real estate mogul and owner of NFL club, Miami Dolphins.
The talks were about setting up a new European Super League.
The clubs were ably represented by bosses who came out of the meeting smiling, the report stated.
United was represented by executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward; Liverpool was represented by chief executive, Ian Ayre; Chelsea was represented by chief executive, Bruce Buck; Arsenal was represented by chief executive, Ivan Gazidis; and Manchester City was represented by chief executive, Ferran Soriano.
The motivation behind the meeting, it was learnt, stemmed from the poor showing of the top clubs in the EPL which has occasioned a fear that they may miss out of the UEFA Champions League next season, and for many of them, not for the first time in recent times.
While Liverpool have only been to the Champions League once since 2010, Chelsea are currently 8th on the league table, and are all but out of the race for UCL qualification, which they need to balance their books.
Even the other three are not spared, as the first and second spots in the league are occupied by Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspurs respectively, leaving the chance of qualification for the UCL an uphill task.
Ross, who organises the International Champions Cup which is hugely successful in China, America and Australia, is believed to be offering a proposition which will fetch the clubs a huge ton of money as well as exposure to the Chinese, Asian and American audiences through massive TV deals.
In the European Super League, the top five clubs in England are expected to link up with other clubs in Europe, who will be invited, for what is expected to spell the end of the Champions League, if it is successfully pulled off.