Bournemouth owner Bill Foley is in talks to buy Portuguese club Moreirense.
Foley, 79, is the managing partner of Black Knight Football Club, the group of investors who bought Bournemouth in December 2022 and then acquired a 30 per cent stake in French side Lorient a month later.
Black Knight then bought Auckland, an Australian Professional Leagues (APL) expansion franchise in New Zealand’s largest city before buying a minority stake in Scottish Premiership side Hibernian.
The group have been evaluating the option of buying a Portuguese club and had been in talks with Lisbon-based Casa Pia, but conversations with their owner Robert Platek broke down.
No formal offer for Moreirense has yet been made by Black Knight, but talks have been held over a deal. Bournemouth and Moreirense have been contacted for comment by The Athletic.
Moreirense, based in Portugal’s northern Minho region, won the Portuguese Taca da Liga (League Cup) in 2017 and have spent the majority of the past two decades in the nation’s top division.
Speaking to The Athletic in May 2023, Foley explained why he does not mind saying that Bournemouth are at the top of the Black Knight tree, an admission that has caused some annoyance in France.
“I’m just being honest,” he said. “Many players in Ligue 1 want to move to the Premier League, and we want to give them that opportunity.
“We want Lorient to be very good and if they can play in Europe, we would want them to do that. We don’t want (Lorient president) Loic (Fery) to sell all of his best players. We want him to have the opportunity of reaching Europe.
“But if a player wants to move on, I don’t want him to move to Liverpool or Arsenal — I want him to move to us.”
Moreirense are currently eighth in Portugal’s top flight with 11 points from their opening eight matches.
Additional reporting by James Horncastle.
(Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
