Real Madrid to sue La Liga and CVC chiefs over €2.7bn deal
Real Madrid is suing bosses at La Liga and CVC Capital Partners over a €2.7bn (£2.3bn) deal that will see the private equity firm take a 10 per cent stake in Spain’s top-flight league.
The football club said it will take civil and criminal action against La Liga president Javier Tebas and CVC chief Javier de Jaime Guijarro over the proposed transaction.
It will also pursue legal action to block approval of the deal, which is set to be voted on by La Liga members.
The league last week said the move, dubbed Boost La Liga, would strengthen its clubs and give them funds to spend on new infrastructure and modernisation programmes, as well as increasing players’ salaries.
But Real and Barcelona have fiercely opposed the plans as they give CVC a 10 per cent stake in La Liga’s future TV rights.
La Liga’s Tebas hit back at the legal threat in a tweet, accusing Real president Florentino Perez of using “threatening methods”.
The league has previously said it was not worried about legal moves by Real Madrid and that disputes between the two sides were common.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta last week said the deal was like “mortgaging the club’s rights over the next half-century” and said he would reject it.
The refusal comes despite a prospective cash boost for the struggling club, which this week lost star player Lionel Messi after it was unable to fulfil his contract.
Messi, who scored a record-breaking 672 goals for Barcelona, has reportedly received an offer for a two-year contract at Paris Saint-Germain worth £25m per year.