The man behind the proposed takeover which is said to be at an advanced stage has already been named as Serbian Dragan Solak, but as the story unfolds it seems that there is more to there being just a a single man behind it.

First out with the story was the Sun who claim that Sport Republic, a company fronted by former Brentford chief Rasmus Ankersen, has bought the 80 per cent stake of controversial Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng.

They go on to say that Ankersen, who recently left his roles with both Brentford FC and Danish partner club FC Midtjylland in December, is chief executive of Sport Republic.

Solak made his money as founder of United Group, a pay TV, broadband and mobile phone company that operates in the Balkans and South East Europe.

The Sun go on to say that Solak remains a strategic adviser to United Group but has now teamed up with Ankersen and another Dane, London-based investor Henrik Kraft, to create a different kind of empire in football, Sport Republic.

Kraft is Anksersen’s co-shareholder and director in Sport Republic and the company’s chairman. He will become chairman of Southampton Football Club and parent company St Mary’s Football Group.

Sport Direct seem to be targeting Saints as their first acquisition in what they see as a multinational, multi-club group operation perhaps in the line of Red Bull's stable of club's, Ankersen was of course part of something similar with both Brentford & FC Midtjylland who of course we played in the Europa League back in 2016.

It is believed that Katharina Liebherr will keep her 20% holding in the football club.

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 13:33 - Jan 4 Rasmus Ankersen is a genius. What he has achieved at Brentford is remarkable. Just imagine what he can achieve here. This is fantastic news.
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ElijahK added 13:41 - Jan 4 ABOUT F*CKING TIME!
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ForlornHope added 14:07 - Jan 4 "Sport Direct seem to be targeting Saints as their first acquisition ??" Not Mike Ashley!!
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Soton added 14:17 - Jan 4 My understanding is at Brentford they identified a certain type of player using a logarithm, then built him up to being a top player then sell him on, something along the lines we do now. I think it was tried out in America in the NFL, what I can recall is once the NFL club owner thought he could do better then the logarithm the teams then when down hill, which seemed to happen every time!, how closely Brentford and probably FC FC Midtjylland stuck to this I don’t know but it might be interesting to see It could work well with a well supported Medium sized club

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highfield49 added 14:22 - Jan 4 Nothing that I've read so far fills me with any enthusiasm, but then again I know nothing about the people involved other than they seem to have acquired some wealth. Being old school I was hoping that a major global business with proven credentials might eventually make an offer to Gao. I hope that I'm wrong but this potential deal is ringing persistent alarm bells in my head already.

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SanMarco added 15:48 - Jan 4 Yes, highfield - can't say I am jumping up and down but I am going to hope for the best and fear the worst, as always.
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