How much Derby County is valued at compared to Sheffield Wednesday as John Textor makes up his mind | OneFootball

The former Crystal Palace owner is deciding between the two Championship clubs

American businessman John Textor is currently deciding whether to re-enter English football with Derby County or Sheffield Wednesday.

He is best known in the United Kingdom as a former co-owner of Crystal Palace, whose majority stake in Lyon caused the south London side to drop from the Europa League to the Conference League to avoid a conflict of interest between the two clubs.

Textor sold his stake in Palace shortly after, and is said to be keen to get back into the English game as quickly as possible, according to The Guardian.

Derby County could be the more costly upfront option

According to a report by journalist Alan Nixon, via his Patreon account, Textor is ready to make an approach for Derby.

The club is currently owned by David Clowes, a property developer who saved the Rams from administration in 2022.

Clowes bought both the club and Pride Park in 2022, but held them as separate legal entities until they were unified under the same holding company in May this year, which should, in theory, make any sale easier and therefore more attractive.

Nixon claims in his report that County are worth around £60million, with Textor weighing up whether to take a minority or majority stake in the club.

Sheffield Wednesday may not present a huge discount

Textor was also linked with an interest in purchasing Wednesday in the summer, which has subsequently been taken out of the hands of controversial former owner Dejphon Chansiri and placed into administration.

During Chansiri’s tenure, the stadium was sold to the former owner for around £60m, to avoid breaching spending rules in 2019.

That means the club and stadium are separate entities, but the company that owns Hillsborough was put into administration at the same time as the club.

As many as 10 parties were said to be interested, with one of those being Textor. All were asked to provide proof of funds up to £50m to administrators.

Although offers would be needed from that point, it provides a likely ballpark figure for what the club is valued at and how much a deal to buy the club would cost.

According to Nixon’s report, the cost of the deal has proved more expensive than Textor originally planned, making Derby his main target.

John Textor preferring Derby County makes sense

It’s a move that makes sense from Textor, as Derby looks a much simpler project to take over.

The ownership of their stadium and club has been simplified, they’re in a good place in the Championship, have no embargoes and a strong playing squad.

Assuming the Wednesday sale price is somewhere near the proof of funds figure, Textor may only save around £10m by choosing the Owls over the Rams.

The Yorkshire outfit have a lot of issues to sort out, with stadium renovations desperately needed, a squad that needs investment, but the club cannot buy players until 2027, and a likely relegation to League One on the horizon following their points deduction.

Overall, it won’t be a shock to see the money spent on Wednesday far outstrip the mooted value of Derby.

Textor owned Palace and was looking to buy Wolverhampton Wanderers at one stage; it is clear Premier League ownership is his aim.