Russian billionaire interested in Championship club

All football clubs play to aim for the big time, the hallowed goals of playing at the highest level; Reading are one of those clubs.

The Royals have experienced the dizzying heights of playing in the English Premier League and will no doubt hold intentions of getting back there again; a promotion from the Championship being the hurdle that they need to overcome first.

Reading last tasted the Premier League in the 2012/13 season, with relegation at the end of that season meaning that they are now in their third Championship campaign since relegation – currently sitting in 12th place in the table and 12 points adrift of the play-off places.

However, could things be about to look up for the Berkshire club with reports of added investment on the horizon from a cash-rich source? Well, according to GetReading that could very well be the case with the website stating that Dmitry Rybolovev could be about to purchase a 20% stake in the club.

Rybolovlev is a Russian Billionaire who, according to Forbes is the world’s 165th richest person and, according to The Daily Mail in a story about his divorce settlement, is worth an estimated £5.5bn.

Currently the Russian oligarch, who rose from a doctor to become chairman and majority shareholder of Russian fertilizer company Uralkali, is majority shareholder in Ligue 1 glamour side AS Monaco. According to a report in French newspaper L’Equipe, Rybolovlev is interested in making a 20% investment in the Royals that would add to his footballing protfolio where he has ‘partnership agreements’, according to GetReading, in clubs across Europe including Braga, Varzim, Zulta Waregem, Rio Ave and Standard Liege.

L’Equipe state that, “This pairing would allow ASM to benefit from a platform in England to accommodate some of his players on loan, while its workforce is expanding each year and that regulation limits the number of players on loan from French clubs¹.

Reading are currently under the ownership of Thai owners with the majority shareholding being held by Narin Niruttinanon (50%) with two other Thais in Sasima Srivikorn and Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth owning 25% each.

¹ original text from L’Equipe: “Ce jumelage permettrait à l’ASM de bénéficier d’une plate-forme en Angleterre pour accueillir certains de ses joueurs en prêt, alors que son effectif s’étoffe chaque année et que la réglementation limite le nombre de joueurs prêtés entre clubs français.

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