The Most Expensive Football Club Takeovers (2026 Update)

Chelsea's 2022 sale remains the most expensive completed controlling-stake football takeover, with the buyers paying £2.5bn for the shares in 2022, according to a club statement reported by BBC News. This 2026 update ranks completed change-of-control deals by the reported equity value at close, except where a sale mixed a small official share price with required lender repayments, in which case the rank uses total consideration and both figures are shown. Later minority sales are set out separately.

Key facts

• Scope: completed sales of a controlling stake in a professional football club, ranked by the reported equity value at close, as of 12 November 2026. Where a deal mixed a small official share price with required lender repayments and deal costs, the rank uses that total consideration and both figures are shown.
• A club or official filing is preferred. Where only a reputable news organisation has stated a figure, the entry says so. Asking prices and collapsed bids are excluded and are covered in our failed takeovers list and the Everton sale explainer.
• Future investment commitments are shown in the notes, not added to the rank. Chelsea's often-cited £4.25bn package in 2022 combines a £2.5bn share price with a £1.75bn investment pledge.
• Secondary buyouts between existing shareholders, including Clearlake's 2026 purchase of the Boehly and Walter stakes at Chelsea, and minority investments such as Sir Jim Ratcliffe's 2024 deal at Manchester United, appear in a second table with implied valuations.
• Figures stay in the currency and year used by the source. This ranking does not apply a single foreign-exchange conversion.

£2.5bn Equity paid for Chelsea's shares in the 2022 change of control, as reported by BBC News from a club statement.€1.2bn Price stated by AC Milan for RedBird Capital Partners' completed acquisition on 31 August 2022.£790m Value of Manchester United at the Glazer family's 2005 offer of 300p a share, as reported by BBC News.

How this ranking works

The first table lists completed change-of-control transactions: a new owner, or a new controlling group, paid a stated price for a majority or otherwise controlling stake. The rank follows the reported consideration for that equity, not a later valuation, not an asking price, and not money the buyer promised to invest after completion. The exception is a sale that mixed a small official share price with required lender repayments and deal costs: in that case, as with Everton in 2024, the rank uses the total consideration and both figures are shown.

Debt treatment is noted where a source discusses it. Some deals were leveraged, some required the buyer to repay club lenders, and some left existing loans in place. Those differences mean a headline equity figure is not always comparable with the cash the buyer ultimately committed.

Listed-club filings and public statements are useful cross-checks, including the clubs already covered in our stock-exchange list. Smaller structured investments, such as AFC Wimbledon's £87m investment, are not controlling sales and are not ranked here.

The most expensive completed controlling-stake sales

1. Chelsea, 2022: £2.5bn for the shares

A consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, with Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss, completed the purchase of Chelsea on 30 May 2022, ending Roman Abramovich's ownership. BBC News, citing a Chelsea statement, said the buyers would pay £2.5bn for the club's shares. The proceeds were to go into a frozen account for charitable use, a condition of the UK government's involvement after Abramovich was sanctioned.

The same reporting put a further £1.75bn as money the consortium said it would invest in the club, including Stamford Bridge, the academy, the women's team and Kingsmeadow. That pledge is why the transaction is often described as a £4.25bn deal. For this ranking, only the £2.5bn share price is treated as equity value at close.

BBC News also reported that Abramovich said he had not asked for his £1.5bn loan to Chelsea to be repaid when the club was sold. Clearlake later became the sole controlling owner in 2026 by buying out fellow shareholders, a separate secondary deal covered below.

2. AC Milan, 2022: €1.2bn

RedBird Capital Partners announced on 31 August 2022 that it had completed the acquisition of AC Milan for €1.2bn, buying the club from Elliott. The club statement said Yankee Global Enterprises, owner of the New York Yankees, would take a minority equity stake. BBC Sport reported the same €1.2bn figure as £1bn at completion.

Financing mattered as much as the headline price. Reuters, citing a source close to the deal, said Elliott would provide RedBird with a vendor loan of up to €600m. That is acquisition financing, not a separate official equity price, and it is presented here as reported rather than as a club figure.

3. Manchester United, 2005: £790m

The Glazer family's takeover remains the largest completed English deal of its era. BBC News reported that Malcolm Glazer won control in May 2005 on a 300p-a-share offer that valued Manchester United at £790m. The family still holds the controlling stake. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's later purchase of a minority holding, and the club's New York listing, are treated as separate events in the second table and in our list of listed clubs.

The 2005 transaction was a leveraged buyout. Acquisition debt was placed on the club, which is why the equity value at close and the financial burden that followed are not the same thing. This entry uses the BBC's £790m offer value and does not invent a later refinancing total.

4. AS Roma, 2020: €591m

The Friedkin Group completed its purchase of AS Roma on 17 August 2020. Reuters reported that formal contracts had been signed for a transaction valued at €591m, covering an 86.6% majority stake held through NEEP Roma Holding, with a mandatory tender offer for the publicly held shares. The seller was the investor group led by James Pallotta.

Friedkin later bought Everton as well, which is why the 2020 Roma price and the 2024 Everton accounts sit on the same list but describe very different deal structures.

5. Everton, 2024: £67.4m for the shares, about £331.3m all-in

The Premier League confirmed in December 2024 that The Friedkin Group had bought 98.8% of Everton through UK vehicle Roundhouse Capital Holdings. Filed accounts, analysed in our explainer on the later sale process, show that the shares themselves cost £67.4m, made up of £25m on completion and £42.4m deferred. Once repayment of club lenders and deal costs are added, total consideration came to about £331.3m.

That split is why Everton is not ranked on the share price alone. The equity cheque was small because the club's balance sheet was distressed, including a pre-completion conversion of Farhad Moshiri's shareholder loans into equity. Media estimates at the time that put the deal "in excess of £400m" are not used as the source of record. TFG's later reported asking price of up to £800m is also excluded, because no sale has completed.

6. Newcastle United, 2021: £305m

BBC Sport reported on 7 October 2021 that a Saudi Arabian-backed £305m takeover of Newcastle United had been completed, after Premier League approval. The buyers were the Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media. The same report said PIF would provide 80% of the funds, and that the Premier League had received legally binding assurances that the Saudi state would not control the club.

Mike Ashley had bought the club for £134m in May 2007, according to the same BBC report. That earlier figure is sourced, but it is well below the threshold of the main table.

7. Liverpool, 2010: £300m

New England Sports Ventures, later renamed Fenway Sports Group, completed its purchase of Liverpool on 15 October 2010. In a statement published by The Guardian, the buyers said the transaction valued the club at £300m and eliminated all of the acquisition debt placed on the club by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, reducing debt-servicing obligations from £25m-£30m a year to £2m-£3m.

FSG remains the controlling owner. A later agreement to sell a minority stake is discussed below and is not treated as a new change of control.

8. Leeds United, 2023: £170m

49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers, moved from a minority holding to full control in July 2023 when it bought Andrea Radrizzani's remaining shares. BBC Sport reported that the EFL approved the £170m takeover on 17 July 2023.

9. AFC Bournemouth, 2022: £120m, as reported by the FT

William Foley II's Black Knight Football Club completed its takeover of Bournemouth in December 2022. The club and the Premier League announced the change of control, but they did not publish a price in those statements. The Financial Times reported the deal at £120m, and that is the figure used here, labelled as a media-reported value rather than a club disclosure.

Minority stakes and secondary buyouts

Several of the largest recent cheques in football have not transferred control. They still matter, because the implied valuation can exceed every completed takeover except Chelsea's 2022 share purchase. The figures below are the reported consideration for the stake that changed hands, plus the implied club value only where a reputable source has stated one. Arithmetic that is not in the source is labelled as such.

Deals that cannot be ranked on a purchase price

Inter Milan changed hands in May 2024 when Oaktree Capital Management enforced security after the then owner missed a loan repayment. The club said Oaktree had acquired indirect control of 99.6% of the shares. That statement does not give a negotiated equity price, so Inter is not given a rank in the first table.

Other completed takeovers are well documented as changes of control but lack a reliable official price. Shahid Khan's 2013 purchase of Fulham is one example: BBC Sport said the financial details were not officially disclosed. Manchester City's 2008 sale to Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group is widely reported at £210m, including debt, but that figure was not published as an official club price and is therefore not ranked here.

Stan Kroenke's original move to a majority at Arsenal in 2011 was a genuine change of control. A Reuters factbox at the time said a takeover deal valued the club at £731m as Kroenke's holding rose to 63%. Because that figure is a club valuation at the deal, not a single cheque for a 100% sale, it is recorded as context rather than forced into the main rank.

Methodology and update

This page ranks completed controlling-stake sales by the reported equity value at close. It prefers club statements, league or regulator confirmations, and filed accounts. Reputable news sources are used where the official announcement is silent, and those figures are labelled. Future investment pledges, unpaid add-ons and asking prices are not treated as completed equity value. Where a deal mixed a small official share price with required lender repayments and deal costs, the rank uses that total consideration and both numbers are shown. Currency conversions that appeared in contemporaneous reporting are quoted as those outlets stated them; no new conversion has been applied. Last updated 12 November 2026. The page will be refreshed after any completed controlling-stake sale with a sourced price.

Sources

Primary and contemporaneous sources are linked in the entries above, including Chelsea and AC Milan club statements, the NESV statement on Liverpool, the INEOS and Manchester United completion statement, Liverpool's 2026 minority-investment announcement, and reporting from BBC News, BBC Sport, Reuters, The Guardian and the Financial Times, plus filed accounts discussed in our Everton explainer. Related reading: failed takeovers, Clearlake's Chelsea buyout, Everton's reported asking price, listed football clubs and AFC Wimbledon's investment structure.