Reports in Spain and China have been linking Wang Jianlin, one of the richest men in China, with last season's La Liga champion side Atletico Madrid in recent days.
Wang, a football fan with a long history of ownership and sponsorship in China's own Super League, is aiming to secure 20 percent of the club with promises of cash injections for potential transfers.
Despite being crowned the champion in Spain's La Liga football division last season, Atletico Madrid still owes GBP 84 million in unpaid taxes, according to the latest figures released by Spanish football league.
If the deal is true, Wang would once again become part of the management of a professional football team since his days in Dalian Wanda, named after his massive company, which reigned supreme in China in the nineties.
There were rumors of Wang eyeing another La Liga club, Valencia, earlier in March.
Though fans may be relieved that the club could finally be less in debt, the Spanish may not be pleased when they see a Wanda Plaza in every city across their country — Wang is likely to use Atletico as his way into the Spanish property market.
Wang's reported deal with the Spanish club comes just months after fellow PRC mogul Jack Ma, now the richest man in China, purchased the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, as he was getting ready for what became a record-breaking initial public offering on the NYSE.
The world of Chinese professional football is, like most things in the country, never politics-free. Xu Ming, former billionaire and chairman of the Dalian Shide Football Club, China's top football club in the 2000s, had close ties with disgraced politician Bo Xilai. Xu testified at Bo's trial in 2013 following the political scandal involving the former Chongqing party chief.
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