Leeds United £300m masterplan revealed after £100m spend

Andrea Radrizzani is confident Leeds United will be worth £300million if they avoid relegation this season, Football Insider understands.

That would make them an even more attractive prospect to potential investors following a dramatic few months that has seen them get promoted and considerably increase their value.

Leeds have made an eyecatching start to their first Premier League campaign in 16 years and committed to around £100million of investment in the playing squad during the international transfer window that ended on Monday.

Speculation of a United takeover was backdrop to last season, with French publication L’Equipe reporting talks with the state-owned and super-rich Qatar Sports Investment (QSI).

Fuel has been added to the fire by Leeds owner Radrizzani in occasional interviews as well as his attendance at a PSG Champions League match as the guest of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the PSG president who also runs QSI.

Leeds were valued at around £45m when Radrizzani bought the club in 2017 from unpopular previous owner Massimo Cellino.

A United source has told Football Insider that the Italian businessman and his boardroom allies believe the club will be worth at least £250million more than that if they are in the Premier League next season.

He sees Leeds’ potential, massive fanbase and growing commercial appeal as key planks in their continued growth.

The club reported a £21m loss in their most recent set of accounts, but turnover increased to nearly £50m in 2018-19.

Record shirt sponsorship and kit deals were secured over the summer despite the pandemic and the value of the playing squad has been transformed following headline signings like Rodrigo Moreno, Diego Llorente and Robin Koch.

The word coming out of France is that QSI’s interest is a long-term one, with the possibility of initially acquiring a minority stake.

Radrizzani bought Leeds in 2017, initially acquiring a 50 per cent stake before fully buying out Massimo Cellino in May of that year.

He reduced his 100 per cent holding to around 88 per cent when 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers, bought £11 million worth of shares, thought to be around 12 per cent of the club.

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