Crystal Palace supremo eyeing shock takeover of EFL side if he sells £230m Eagles stake after missing out on Everton
JOHN TEXTOR is eyeing a shock move for Watford if he sells his stake in Crystal Palace.
The American businessman failed in a bid to buy Everton.
But he is pushing ahead with plans to add another English side to his multi-club operation.
Hornets’ Italian owner Gino Pozzo put ten per cent of the club on the market last summer and is open to offers for the rest of his shares.
Textor, 59, has held preliminary talks about using shares in his investment company Eagle Football to buy into Watford.
The Championship side are valued at between £150-175million by Pozzo.
Textor has spoken to potential investors about joining a consortium and acting as an operating partner, given his experience of running clubs.
In addition to his 45 per cent stake in Palace, he also owns Lyon, Brazilian league leaders Botafogo and Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek.
Watford appeal to him as they are already part of a multi-club group with Serie A side Udinese.
Textor has been trying to sell his shares in Palace since February due to a stand-off with the club’s other owners — chairman Steve Parish and fellow Americans Josh Harris and David Blitzer.
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Investment group Sportsbank, led by British Eagles fans Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer, are understood to have made a bid.
Harris and Blitzer are interested in buying out Textor, depending on price, set at around £230m by Textor.