News of a £400 million bid for a Premier League club would normally make waves, yet the recent offer for Wolverhampton Wanderers from American businessman John Textor tells a deeper, more complex story. What appears to be a straightforward takeover attempt actually ties into a web of legal disputes, financial strain, and the precarious state of modern football ownership.
Textor, who recently sold his share in Crystal Palace, is trying to reshape his multi-club venture, Eagle Football Group (EFG) (which already controls Botafogo in Brazil, Olympique Lyonnais in France, and RWDM Brussels in Belgium). His £400 million proposal to Wolves’ owners, Fosun Group, reportedly combines cash and shares in a revamped version of EFG, which he hopes to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate that has owned Wolves since 2016, is said to be open only to selling a minority stake. That makes Textor’s pitch a long shot. But the timing of his move raises eyebrows: it came just as a Brazilian court overturned some of his efforts to shield Botafogo from the turbulence at Lyon, where he was forced to step down as club president to avoid the team’s demotion from Ligue 1.
At the same time, EFG’s key financier, Ares Management, is demanding repayment of a large portion of the $425 million loan it provided for the Lyon purchase in 2022. Textor’s financial headaches don’t end there - he’s also in a legal fight with Iconic Sports Eagle Investment, an American group that claims he failed to buy back $75 million worth of shares as promised after EFG’s failed IPO attempt in 2023. Courts in both the U.S. and U.K. have ruled against him so far, setting up a full trial next year.
In addition, Textor is locked in arbitration with Atlanta United and Major League Soccer over unpaid transfer fees linked to Thiago Almada, and has lost separate lawsuits in Belgium involving RWDM Brussels. Yet despite these mounting setbacks, he continues to chase new club investments - a sign of his determination, or perhaps his desperation, to keep Eagle Football alive.
Elsewhere, another high-profile investor is facing his own storm. Dragan Solak, owner of Southampton and founder of Sport Republic, has watched his main club slide from the Premier League to near the bottom of the Championship. His other ventures in France, Turkey, and Mali have had mixed fortunes at best. Meanwhile, Solak was ousted from United Group, the Balkan telecoms empire he created, after a power struggle with majority shareholder BC Partners. Though he secured a hefty €250 million bonus from a recent asset sale, his attempt to regain his position failed in court. Solak insists this won’t affect his football interests, but with Southampton struggling and parachute payments dwindling, speculation about a potential sale persists.
Adding to Europe’s business-of-football troubles, DAZN, the sports streaming service, is reportedly trying to renegotiate its €420 million domestic rights deal with Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League. The situation mirrors its pullout from a similar French contract last year, which left clubs scrambling for income. Analysts, however, believe Belgian teams could still secure deals directly with telecom companies, a less lucrative but safer alternative.
From Textor’s legal battles to Solak’s corporate exile and DAZN’s financial retreat, these episodes highlight a sobering reality: the drama in football today is often played out not on the pitch, but in the boardroom and the courtroom. The game’s global expansion, driven by private equity and media money, has created empires that look powerful from afar, but beneath the surface, many are cracking.