There were months of due research, leaks to the Spanish press, and talk of a £100–200 million project to make Getafe their way into La Liga. It always looked like the clearest sign yet of Fenway Sports Group’s plans to buy more clubs. Now, news from Spain says that Liverpool’s owners have left the club.
According to Marca, Football España, and other news sources, FSG has chosen not to buy out Getafe’s majority owners after many months of talks. It’s a real U-turn for Liverpool fans who were beginning to picture a blue-and-white satellite on the outskirts of Madrid.
These portfolio plays are increasingly normal. Multi-club ownership in football and a parallel explosion in data-driven sports betting markets that live on top of the same fixtures. For supporters who want to understand how that betting layer actually works, there are neutral overviews that go more in detail. They explain how online operators structure odds, manage risk, and price in-play swings across different sports without telling you where to put your money. In other words, the games that owners like FSG rely on for revenue through owning several clubs are also the ones that betting companies build their odds and markets around.
From Bordeaux to Getafe
This search for a second European club by FSG has been going on for more than a year. It became clear that Getafe was the best choice after an unsuccessful bid to buy Bordeaux and preliminary talks about Málaga.
Los Azulones, who are based in Greater Madrid, had a lot of good qualities. They were safe in La Liga, their stadium was going to be remodeled to hold 19,000 people by 2027–28, and their owner, Ángel Torres, said he would step down once the building is done.
By the end of September, several news outlets said that FSG was now “pressing ahead” with a staged takeover that could be worth around £100 million up front. Additional commitments to invest in the stadium and the team would bring the total package up to £200 million. As the main reason Michael Edwards agreed to return as FSG’s CEO of football, it was cast as a carrot. Julian Ward and Pedro Marques helped build a proper multi-club model around Liverpool.
For weeks, the story was that FSG had finally found a partner in the style of Girona, and Getafe would be the place where young Reds would be tested. They would also share scouts and have a bigger presence on the continent.
Why La Liga’s Numbers Spooked FSG
La Liga’s economic control rules are to blame for the twist, just like they have been for Barcelona and other teams. The Squad Cost Limit is like a hard budget that is based on each club’s expected income minus its debt and non-football costs. It limits how much can be spent on pay, agent fees, and amortized transfer fees.
Based on reports from Marca, FSG may have decided that they “couldn’t spend how they wanted to” in La Liga after doing the math. That is, even if they bought Getafe, they would not be able to use the money to quickly improve the team, which is what multi-club owners care about the most.
Recent events show how tight these screws can get. Barcelona’s price cap has been lowered several times. Most recently, La Liga took more than €100 million off their limit after reviewing the club’s finances and ordering sales and late registrations to stay in line.
What This Means for Liverpool’s Multi-Club Dream
Pulling out of Getafe doesn’t mean the multi-club project is dead, but it does delay it again. La Liga still looks attractive, yet its strict financial controls may make it less appealing for investor-owners who want flexibility and quick squad turnover.
From a Liverpool perspective, the Getafe U-turn mainly reinforces what we already know about FSG. They are prepared to go deep into talks, complete due diligence, and then still walk away if the regulatory and financial environment doesn’t fit their model.
That might frustrate fans who see “nearly” projects pile up alongside “nearly” transfers. Still, it’s also why the club has largely stayed out of the kind of financial chaos that La Liga’s rules were designed to prevent in the first place.
