£500m Tottenham investment pact may already be agreed as Amanda Staveley in talks with Qatari VIPs

01/03/2025 02:15 AM

It is a somewhat surreal trend in 21st-century football that many fans dream of their club becoming an enclave for Gulf state billionaires, but Amanda Staveley might just deliver that dream at Tottenham.

As the broker behind the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s takeover of Newcastle United and Abu Dhabi-backed buyout of Manchester City, Staveley appreciates the modern game’s passion for petrodollars.

The dealmaker, a former model and girlfriend of Prince Andrew, is one of the most respected operators in football finance and, unlike many in the sport, is a genuine fan.

She and her husband and business partner Mehrdad Ghodoussi therefore understand the emotions of supporters, how to craft a narrative centred around them and use them to their strategic advantage.

That was clear to see in her rhetoric ahead of the Newcastle takeover in October 2021, which sold a vision to fans of the club becoming a global powerhouse by drawing on a bottomless well of Saudi cash.

So when it emerged in June that Staveley had raised £500m and is interested in buying into Tottenham, it naturally went down well with Spurs fans.

The 51-year-old financier’s book of contacts in the Middle East is peerless as far as potential investors are concerned, inviting fans to envision Persian Gulf money flooding into North London.

Since then, it has emerged that – as reported by TBR Football – Staveley is speaking to potential deal partners in the Middle East and the United States.

Given the capricious form of Ange Postecoglou’s side and the growing agitations about Daniel Levy and ENIC’s suitability to take Spurs forward, that again inspired optimism in N17.

Tottenham are currently 11th in the Premier League table. Coincidentally, that is also exactly where the Levy-ENIC ownership regime rank in the table of the league’s richest owners.

Premier League owners ranked by net worth

The ENIC regime – and Levy especially – have transformed Spurs over the last two-and-a-half decades in terms of their prestige and commercial standing.

While it justifiably went down like a cup of cold sick with fans, the fact Spurs were one of 12 invited to join the European Super League in 2021 was a testament to how they have broken into the financial elite.

Significantly, however, they have done so without winning any silverware since 2008.

And while the move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2019 has yielded the increase in spending on recruitment and retention that was promised, the gap between their revenue and squad cost is widening.

It isn’t hard to see why a Staveley-fronted consortium of investors is an evocative prospect for Spurs fans, especially with Middle Eastern money in the mix. Even if it is on a minority basis.

And in the latest developments, the identities of Staveley’s would-be deal partners may have just come into slightly sharper focus.

• READ MORE: Tottenham have already bought a potential superstar in January who will seriously excite Ange Postecoglou

Amanda Staveley speaking to Qatari investors

Until recently, there have only been relatively vague allusions as to who Staveley could bring onboard as co-investors at Spurs.

Given her connections, the consortium was always likely to contain Gulf money. But Gulf money is not a monolith – there is a big difference between a sovereign wealth fund and a private investor, for example.

Now, CityAM have reported that Staveley is in talks with ‘Qatari investors about investing in another Premier League club’.

Those previously consulted by TBR, including Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, suggest Spurs are the only English club in whom she has a serious interest at this point.

The language, ‘Qatari investors’, also appears to suggest that her and Ghodoussi’s deal partners are likely private individuals as opposed to a PIF-style fund.

Incidentally, the report also reinforces Staveley’s Middle East connections by suggesting that she has been offered an informal advisory role by Saudi Arabia ahead of the 2034 World Cup.

• READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou already knows who he wants Tottenham to sign following Destiny Udogie's injury

PCP Capital Partners may already have NDA in place with Spurs

There may have been a handful of well-place leaks, but there has been very little information to date about the composition and motives of Staveley and PCP Capital Partners with regards to Spurs.

It has previously been reported that Tottenham and Staveley could have a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in place that prevents either party relaying specifics to the media or fans.

"We can't say too much at the moment because of you know, rules around it,” she said at a recent sports business conference. “But we will be able to talk about it, hopefully in the not too distant future."

That would appear to suggest that Staveley has indeed already agreed some form of agreement – formal or informal, with Tottenham or perhaps another club – that prevents her from addressing matters directly.

Staveley has also privately expressed interest in AS Monaco, where Russian billionaire Dmytry roboblev is looking to sell his majority stake.

The market for minority investment in Premier League clubs is saturated at present meanwhile – Brentford, West Ham, Bournemouth, Wolves and Crystal Palace are all looking for new equity partners.

But Spurs are the easily the most glamorous club on the market and the whose business fundamentals make them the most attractive asset on paper.