Is one of the richest persons in the world, Mukesh Ambani, in talks to buy English soccer club Liverpool FC? Well, some Western media reports say so. Whatever the veracity of such reports, it does make business sense to get an international premier soccer club in the kitty, especially when Reliance-backed Jio and media company Viacom18 are betting big on sports.

According to a PTI report from London on Sunday, which quoted a leading English daily, Ambani has entered the race to bid for world-renowned English football club Liverpool FC’s takeover.

The English Premier League giants have been put up for sale by their current owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), who bought the Merseyside club in October 2010 and have reportedly appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to assist them in selling the team.

According to The Mirror, as quoted by the PTI, the FSG are willing to sell the club for 4 billion British pounds.

Ambani, CMD of Reliance Industries and rated by Forbes as the eighth richest person in the world, has enquired about the club, the English daily reported.

Few associated with the Mumbai-headquartered Indian multinational conglomerate, however, could not confirm the development.

A statement from FSG read: “There have been a number of recent changes of ownership and rumours of changes in ownership at EPL clubs and inevitably, we are asked regularly about Fenway Sports Group’s ownership in Liverpool.

“FSG has frequently received expressions of interest from third parties seeking to become shareholders in Liverpool. FSG has said before that under the right terms and conditions, we would consider new shareholders if it was in the best interests of Liverpool as a club.”

The Anfied outfit has enjoyed immense success under FSG with Jurgen Klopp’s side winning a Premier League title, a Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and European Super Cup over the past few years.

Others in the fray include parties from the Gulf and the USA.

Ambani’s company owns Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket side Mumbai Indians and also runs the Indian Super League football event besides being the commercial partners of the All India Football Federation.

Indianbroadcastingworld.com could not independently check out the facts as reported by the UK’s The Mirror or PTI.

However, Viacom18, a Reliance joint venture with American media company Paramount, earlier this year outbid Disney and others in a tough competition to bag the digital rights for the Indian subcontinent region and media rights (TV and digital) for Australia+New Zealand, the UK and South Africa for the lucrative IPL for approximately $ 3 billion.

Viacom18 is being re-positioned as a digital-first company, as per statements from the company itself when it jointly with Bodhi Tree (controlled by James Murdoch and former Disney Asia head Uday Shankar) announced investments by the latter in the Indian media outfit to the tune of $ 1.78 billion.

In September, India’s anti-trust body CCI approved the merger of the Jio Cinema streaming app with Viacom18 that owns and runs another OTT platform, Voot, which has already started showing live sports for the last one year or so as part of simulcast on linear TV channel, MTV. MTV and a host of other Paramount properties in India are run by Viacom18.