LA owners rule out England move

Los Angeles Galaxy owners Anschutz Entertainment Group have ruled out a major investment in a Barclays Premier League club and are now turning down bids themselves following the signing of David Beckham.

AEG chief executive and president Tim Leiweke, who persuaded Beckham to sign for the Galaxy, claimed there had been a recent US dollars 100 million bid for the MLS outfit but insists his company would not be joining the foreign investors flocking to the Barclays Premier League.

"I wouldn't expect us to be there. We've had a lot of opportunities to purchase the majority of clubs in the Premier League over the past seven years and it's just not our area of expertise," he said.

AEG own three Major League Soccer franchises including the Galaxy as well as the Los Angeles Kings National Hockey League side and London's O2 Arena. Yet Leiweke believes his company would be out of its depth owning a Premier League club.

He added: "We put some significant money into the O2 in London and we're doing quite well with that. That's what we do and we do that well.

"But I think the Premier League is a different animal than Major League Soccer because you don't have a (salary) cap and you don't have a single entity system so you're only as good and as challenged as anyone that's willing to spend what they're willing to spend.

"There are some pretty good heavy hitters in that league and maybe that's a little bit more than we should be biting off at this point.

"That said, I think around the world there are opportunities in football and certainly Asia is a market that is of high interest to us."