11 - 17 May 2000

Manchester United may invest in Maltese football club in Australia

by Henry Brincat

English football club Manchester United may be interested in investing in Paramatta Melita Eagles, a Maltese-owned club in Australia, The Malta Business Weekly has learnt.

Earlier this week The Malta Independent had quoted Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as saying that the club will probably venture into Australian soccer, meaning that they were interested in taking a majority shareholding in one of Australia's national league clubs.

Sources close to the Maltese-Australian club in Sydney said the Maltese-owned club - the former Melita Eagles - could be the club that Manchester United are showing interest in.

The sources unofficially told The Malta Business Weekly that talks between delegations of the two clubs were expected to be held at Old Trafford in the coming days, probably before the end of the month.

It is, in fact, reliably understood that Manchester United will be proposing to buy a 51 per cent controlling interest in the club, but this has not yet been

confirmed.

The same sources said the possibility of an agreement being reached were very good but no one at this stage could guarantee the outcome of the talks.

If an agreement is reached, the investing club would then be able to give some of their younger players the opportunity to play first class football in Australia until they are ready for the Premiership.