New £340m claims emerge from 'those close' to Saudi takeover - Mauriss bid now makes sense?
An intriguing new piece on the takeover front has arrived from The Chronicle's Lee Ryder.
In it, he reveals that 'those close' to the Saudi-backed deal claim the bid they had accepted was actually around the £340m mark - not £300m.
This would certainly help explain Henry Mauriss' reported £350m bid, something many struggled to comprehend if £300m was the price Mike Ashley was willing to sell at.
Not only that, it's been common knowledge for some time now that the Amanda Staveley-led consortium paid a deposit of £17m to show their intent. This deposit is expected to be 5% of the sale price, and 5% of 340 is 17, suggesting the deal they are waiting to gain approval for is in fact a £340m one - which is £40m more than many have reported across the past few months of this tedious takeover saga.
Back to The Chronicle's latest piece, Lee Ryder also claims that Mauriss has been told by Mike Ashley to stump up a 5% deposit of his own to prove his intent as a potential buyer.
That said, the same report insists that this is still seen as a 'back-up' option to a Saudi-backed bid that Amanda Stavelely and Co remain 'confident' will go through, with Mauriss' 'offer' set to mean absolutely nothing if the Premier League approval eventually arrives.
So, the Saudis bid is actually £340m and Mauriss has been told to show Ashley the money if he wants to be considered a 'serious bidder'?
