Liverpool takeover news as former FSG ally makes £4bn-plus claim amid sale decision

Fenway Sports Group have been told that a valuation of £4 billion-plus for Liverpool is fanciful - because the club is based outside of London.

FSG have been seeking investment in the Reds for three months. A host of parties have been linked with buying into the Anfield outfit since it emerged the club was on the market in November.

Rumours of late have swirled of Qatar Investment Authority - the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund - being interested. American group Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment are another potential investor who could be keen, according to reports. FSG are said to prefer a partial rather than a complete sale.

Sir Martin Broughton previously served as chairman of Liverpool in 2010 and helped broker FSG's purchase of the club for £300 million the same year from Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Discussing the Reds' sale - along with Manchester United, who are also on the market - Broughton believes both Premier League heavyweights will struggle to make the circa £4 billion price tags that have been mooted.

He feels any possible investors will already have homes in London and that's why the north-west region is less attractive.

"I would question whether they'll [United and Liverpool] get the kind of prices they floated," Broughton told The Telegraph.

"With Chelsea – and I think Arsenal and Tottenham would fall into the same category – the people we spoke to tended to be overseas billionaires who had a pad in London and the pad in London was in Knightsbridge or Kensington, Chelsea or something.

"So when they came to London, they went to Chelsea. They were football fans, and they were Chelsea fans... they're not going to be bidders for Liverpool or Manchester United because they've got a pad in London and they're not planning to move their pad to Manchester or Liverpool. So it's a different type of buyer to the ones that we were looking for with our consortium."