Why Turki Alalshikh wants to invest in English football amid Bristol City & Sheffield Wednesday links | OneFootball

The Saudi billionaire’s reasoning for wanting to enter the English game has been revealed.

Saudi billionaire Turki Alalshikh wants to invest into English football due to it solely being his own money being put in, amid previous links to him taking over at Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday.

Alalshikh is a man who has revolutionised the landscape of the sport of Boxing in recent years, and it now appears he wants to take a venture into English football and work his magic in the beautiful game.

He hasn’t been short on links to taking over some of the Championship’s biggest clubs, with the 44-year-old taking to X to quash rumours of a deal being agreed at Ashton Gate, while he has previously been touted with ending the Owls’ nightmares with Dejphon Chansiri and buying out Sheffield Wednesday.

Meanwhile, TalkSPORT’s Simon Jordan previously revealed the businessman was keen on buying either Southampton or Millwall.

However, these deals have not materialised, and the intrigue lingers on as to who Alalshikh will fancy as his first English project.

He certainly has the money to spend, and now the reasoning has been outlined as to why he’s so keen to bring his wealth into English football.

Turki Alalshikh is rumoured to be worth a staggering £2.14 billion, helping bring boxing, MMA, WWE, Formula 1 and LIV Golf into the Saudi Arabia sporting calendar as a government official, and he now has his eyes firmly set on taking English football by storm.

Speaking on TalkSPORT, Simon Jordan has revealed that Alalshikh wants to invest in a British football club because it would be strictly his own investment, particularly given boxing is a “state-supported initiative.”

Jordan said: “Whilst he’s an incredibly wealthy man, the investment in boxing is a state-supported initiative.

“This would be his own investment. And whilst he’s got a few billion, the dynamics of football are very different.

“I’ve encouraged him to make sure that he takes the right advice, not necessarily from me, but doesn’t get everybody around him that leeches onto people.”

Meanwhile, Jordan also outlined that Alalshikh did hold an interest in buying Bristol City, albeit distancing himself from the rumours via his X account.

Jordan added: “I think it’s probably not true that he’s going to buy Bristol City Football Club now.

“But it may well be true that he had an interest in looking at Bristol City Football Club.

“Well, I know that because I talked to him about it, with respect.”

Turki Alalshikh’s previous footballing investment is a cause for concern

While Turki Alalshikh has helped transform the sport of boxing since his involvement, he hasn’t quite had the same impact on football, with the billionaire’s only investment coming at Spanish side Almeira, who find themselves in the Spanish second tier and sold off to a Saudi Investment Group.

With no experience of catapulting a side to the top end of one of Europe’s major divisions, Championship sides will be right to be wary of whether he can be the man to deliver success to someone in the long-term future.

There could also be fears that his passion for boxing could override his football ventures if a spell in charge isn’t going according to plan, so it will be fascinating to see which club takes the eventual plunge.