Doyen Sports, an investment fund that "finances player purchases" for football clubs, wants to expand into the Premier League, according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Nelio Lucas, the 35-year-old CEO of Doyen Group's Malta-registered subsidiary, said that Doyen is looking to invest $273M after profiting from its first €100M ($137M) venture. Lucas declined to "identify the central European businessmen who are backing the fund." Doyen lends cash to clubs to sign players, and "expects to be repaid in three years." The teams can "keep the players and repay the debt, or sell the athletes, returning the loan money and a share of any profit from the transfer to Doyen." Lucas said that the setup does not "breach a Premier League ban on funds owning stakes in the economic rights of athletes." Lucas: "We can operate with this model in the Premier League and we're preparing a version of this model especially for the U.K. I'm sure the Premier League sees us with good eyes." While Premier League officials wouldn't comment on Doyen's plans, they said that rules ban "so-called third-party ownership." Doyen said that it "loans money and isn't involved in such ownership" (BLOOMBERG, 5/16).
