San Francisco 49ers taking punt on Leeds United with £10m stake

Yesterday’s announcement that the investment arm of the 49ers had taken a stake of a little over 10 per cent for what is believed to be around £10m followed months of discussions with Andrea Radrizzani.

The Italian, in charge at Elland Road for a little over a year, had been seeking investment to help boost his attempts to take United back into the Premier League.

Radrizzani has vowed to plough the proceeds from the sale into strengthening a squad that was last season shown to be horribly short of the standard required to thrive in the second tier.

“The San Francisco 49ers are one of the most prominent franchises in all of professional sports and certainly in the NFL,” said Marathe, who has been a high-profile figure with the 49ers since 2001 and is now also a member of the Leeds board.

“Similar to Leeds, we have a storied history with a lot of Hall of Fame players and we are right in the middle of building a foundation and getting the 49ers back to where they belong, which is the top of the NFL.

“That is why I see a lot of similarities to what is happening at Leeds, of getting back to where Leeds United belong. “

The investment deal continues the trend of NFL clubs encroaching across the Atlantic and into English football.

Fulham chairman – and prospective owner of Wembley – Shahid Khan controls the Jacksonville Jaguars, while Arsenal’s majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is involved with the LA Rams.

The deal involving United is a far more tentative step than those two in London. Nevertheless, the agreement has already created waves on both sides of the Atlantic, not least because the 49ers remain one of sport’s biggest names despite not having won the Super Bowl since 1994-95.

Radrizzani, who remains as chairman, added: “This exciting partnership builds on the foundations we have laid down at the club in the last 12 months and we can assure supporters that the funds invested will go towards improving results on the pitch.”