Last Updated: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:30
Property developer Nabeel Chowdery says he would be interested in a £40million takeover of Blackburn Rovers.
The Altrincham-based entrepreneur, whose Property Route company has a portfolio valued at over half a billion pounds and includes 11 main companies leaving him 562nd on the Sunday Times rich list, has admitted he would buy the Ewood Park side, but feels Rovers are currently asking too much money.
A friend of Rovers keeper Brad Friedel, Chowdery was quoted in the Lancashire Evening Post: "If they wanted to come to a realistic figure we could have a deal.
"I'm interested, but not at their level.
"It has to be the right deal for me. If it was a property deal I would instruct my people to look at it and come up with a figure.
"But it's football and I think Rovers want someone to pay bigger because of the kudos and goodwill involved with being a football club."
Meanwhile a spokesman for Rothschilds, the brokers working on behalf of the Walkers Trustees, played down any interest from Chowdery and said: "He hasn't spoken to me although that doesn't mean to say that he hasn't spoken to anyone else at Rothschilds.
"Things are going slowly. From our point of view there is no new story at the moment."
Rovers chairman John Williams added: "Our position is that there are a number of interested parties, but there is no new news. There is nothing imminent."