ISL 2018-19: 5 Latest rumours in Indian Football

#5 Lulu group to invest in Kerala Blasters

The Lulu group were rumoured to take in the charge of the Kerala Blasters before the start of the season

Just weeks before the starting of the season, there were strong rumours on the possible takeover of Kerala Blasters by UAE based retail franchise Lulu Group International.

In September, reports surfaced that the Prasad group (IQuest) who owned 80 per cent of the franchise and the then owner, Sachin Tendulkar who owned 20 per cent stake of the club were making way for a complete takeover of the team by Kerala billionaire Yusuf Ali M.A who owns the Lulu Group, a billion dollar retail chain in the middle-east.

There was almost “confirmed” news reported on the successful takeover of the club by Lulu in September. However, later Kerala Blasters denied any rumours of the news and termed the news to be superlative in nature. Speculations were further dumped when actor Chiranjeevi and Allu Aravind bought in Sachin’s 20-percent stake in the team and are currently the owners of the club.

The news did raise a lot of questions on the speculation as both ISL and the Lulu group denied to drop any comments on the situation.

If the news of the interest did hold true why wouldn’t it go through? Or what possible reason be there in the denial of interest after a month’s time? Or is it has just been delayed for the next season?

With a deep pocket and roots from the state, the news of Yusuf Ali’s Lulu group taking over Kerala Blaster did look like a possibility but now posses more questions than answers.

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