John Textor 'close' to Derby County takeover but cash hurdle remains | OneFootball

John Textor needs to find the money available to complete a purchase of Derby County

American businessman John Textor has run into a hurdle in his pursuit of Championship side Derby County.

According to Alan Nixon on X, ex-Crystal Palace owner Textor needs to come up with the cash to make a formal bid for the Rams.

It was reported on Saturday by Nixon that Derby, which has been under the ownership of local businessman David Clowes since he saved the club from administration in 2022, is valued at £60 million.

Textor was ready to make a bid for Derby and had reportedly attended their recent home game against Watford to potentially discuss a deal, but a roadblock has seemingly been hit, and his stance on a purchase is once again up in the air.

John Textor needs to come up with the cash to buy Derby County

John Textor has been a name which has swirled around takeover reports for some months now, after he was one of the leading names in the potential purchase of Sheffield Wednesday whilst the club was still under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri.

Alan Nixon has revealed, however, that the American is "chasing Derby over Wednesday and is close to a deal" if he can come up with the money to see the purchase through.

However, this comes less than a month after The Athletic reported that the Eagle Group owner had bid £400 million-plus for Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, as he looks to add an English side back to his ownership group.

Textor sold his shares in Crystal Palace in June for £190 million, meaning that his Eagle Group now just consists of Brazilian side Botafogo, Ligue 1 club Lyon and Belgium's RDWM Brussels.

He isn't too well-liked at Lyon, after he oversaw financial mismanagement, which almost got the French outfit relegated to Ligue 2, and thus was forced to step down from his position as president over the summer.

He also doesn't have too many fans at Botafogo, either, and has recently lost legal cases against RDWM's former owner, Thierry Dailly, after accusing him of fraud.

So, there's clearly a lot of baggage surrounding Textor, and how he is unable to provide sufficient money to buy a side reportedly worth £60 million a month after he was able to afford to bid nearly seven times that amount to purchase another team, arguably raises some more question marks.

But David Clowes will be aware of these potential issues when dealing with him.

Derby County should trust in David Clowes to make the right decision for the club

Despite David Clowes looking for investment for a while now, Derby fans can rest easy knowing that, as and when he does decide to sell the club, he'll be doing so to the right person.

The Rams were a week away from going bust before Clowes stepped in as what he described as "a very, very last resort."

The lifelong Derby supporter wouldn't want the club to go through what it went through three years ago, and therefore will ensure that whoever does succeed him as owner will have the best interests of the club at heart.

Textor may be able to fund the club further than he can, but if he doesn't have the desire to do so, instead purchasing the club so he has another English side under his Eagle Group, then you'd assume Clowes would likely hold off.