Liverpool has been swamped with calls from six potential investors, which would make the club go on a massive spending spree.
Ace striker Fernando Torres had warned Liverpool that he might consider his future if they did not land four or five major names this summer. But an Anfield source confirmed the club has been swamped with calls from potential investors despite the team struggling for form.
Torres will be encouraged that the Rhone Group, an international equity firm worth around £3 billion, has made public their willingness to pay £100 million to become the club's biggest shareholders, The Sun reports.
A highly-placed club insider confirmed the group, who have offices in London, Paris and New York, have started the ball rolling by studying the club's accounts.
They are demanding a minimum 34% stake in Liverpool in exchange for handing Royal Bank of Scotland £100 million to pay off a chunk of their estimated £240 million debt. It would leave current owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks with 33% each.
"The Rhone Group is not some pie-in-the-sky consortium but a well-established financial organisation headed by millionaires from Britain, France, Sweden, America and several other countries. But they are only the first group to come forward," a source said.
"We have been talking to at least five other would-be investors and it could be this development will encourage them to break cover too. So we will take our time to weigh up all the options. This is not a takeover but an investment opportunity.
"Whichever group eventually buys into Liverpool, the money will not go to the owners but to the club to reduce the existing debt," the source added.
Torres still has more than three years left on his contract and has said he would contemplate leaving only if the Reds failed to bring in fresh talent.
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