Woody Johnson to buy Textor’s shares from Crystal Palace, giving a huge boost to Palace’s Europa League hopes.
Woody Johnson signs £190m deal to buy John Textor’s shares in Crystal Palace.
Woody Johnson has reached an agreement to purchase John Textor’s Crystal Palace interest; the Premier League is expected to approve the transaction to the owner of the New York Jets in four weeks.
It is believed that Johnson’s offer of £190 million for Textor’s 44.9% interest was accepted on Sunday night in the United States, which may significantly increase Palace’s chances of competing in the Europa League the following season. The 78-year-old must pass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test before he can finalise the deal. He has owned the Jets since 2000 and lost out on purchasing Chelsea in 2022 after putting in a $2 billion offer.
The FA Cup winners’ eligibility to play in the Europa League will be decided this week, but it is anticipated that Uefa would see this most recent development favourably. Steve Parish, the chair of Palace, and the other co-owners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, all of whom are Americans, have put more and more pressure on Textor to close the deal as soon as possible.
Despite being the largest shareholder in the French team Lyon, which has also qualified for the Europa League, Textor does not have a decisive influence at Selhurst Park, according to the four Palace co-owners who were part of the delegation that attended a meeting at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon this month.
It’s unclear if the former US ambassador to the UK, who has openly expressed his wish to purchase an English football team, is aiming for a complete takeover. Due to worries about the soaring expenses of constructing a new main stand, which some sources estimate might reach up to £240 million, Harris and Blitzer, who purchased stakes totalling 36% in 2015 and have investment portfolios spread across several sports, are reportedly inclined to sell.
It is anticipated that Textor will focus on another English club. Simon Jordan, the previous owner of Palace, disclosed this week that he advised Textor to purchase Sheffield Wednesday, a Championship team that was recently struck with a 2027 transfer spending ban due to their continuous inability to pay players’ salaries. If you want to purchase another English team, Jordan stated, “I was talking to John Textor the other day, and if he comes out of Palace, I was telling him that’s the football club you should be buying.”