FSG chief executive Sam Kennedy has made a candid admission in terms of Liverpool’s need for ‘massive investment’ in order to remain competitive in the Premier League.
The Massachusetts native has admitted that the English top flight has become more dog-eat-dog in its nature due to the increasing influx of major investors, adding that the Anfield club must consider different areas of spending so that they don’t get left behind.
However, he did add the caveat that such investment needs to be ‘disciplined’, telling Bloomberg: “These clubs, these franchises, they need massive investment.
“Are we disciplined? Do we try to be disciplined? Yes, of course, because we need to spend at the player development area, on free agents, on transfers when it comes to global football.”
Kennedy added: “Part of Fenway Sports Group’s secret sauce is investing in blue chip assets that our fans care passionately about so that we can win, but also invest in their venues. The beauty of Fenway Sports Group is that we feel that we can do it all.
“As long as the growth opportunities fit our overarching criteria which are blue chip in nature, great opportunities to either restore, rebuild or enhance a venue that might need some TLC, and we feel that the Fenway Sports Group can be additive and add more value, then it’s something we’ll look at.”
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Liverpool have won major trophies under FSG’s ownership tenure at Anfield while retaining self-sustainability and significantly increasing the capacity of their stadium from 45,000 at the time of their arrival in 2010 to 61,000 once the current redevelopment work is completed.
However, with the vastly superior wealth of clubs such as Manchester City and Newcastle hugely altering the English football landscape, the Reds’ owners need to accomplish a difficult balancing act of making the necessary investment to remain competitive without jeopardising LFC’s long-term future.
Despite having a reputation for being overly frugal, John Henry and co have overseen some big-money transfers at Anfield, such as the acquisitions of Darwin Nunez, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and recently Dominik Szoboszlai.
The unfortunate reality of elite club football in 2023 is that those with the biggest financial muscle will almost certainly dominate the major competitions, something that Liverpool’s owners will know all too well.
As Kennedy says, though, any significant investment needs to be made with the utmost consideration so that the Reds’ long-term sustainability isn’t compromised when the time eventually comes that FSG fully hand it over to other investors.
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