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Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has revealed that he was once on the verge of buying Championnat National (Third Division of French Football) outfit Red Star F.C. last year.
Kosmos, Pique's sports investment firm, has been involved in several football projects. Pique said that Kosmos, alongside a few French players and entrepreneurs, tried to purchase Red Star but that ultimately the deal did not come through.
He told L'Equipe (Get Football News France):
“We were on the verge of buying Red star. Unfortunately, we landed a bit late into the negotiations. But I went to Paris, I saw the stadium and I spoke with Patrice Haddad, the owner at the time. It interested me because things have been going really well since we bought FC Andorra.”
Kosmos purchased FC Andorra in December 2018. By claiming ownership of Red Star, the Barcelona defender's goal was to continue the work he has undertaken at FC Andorra.
“We are looking to replicate this model at another club. We were looking in Europe for a club that could meet our desires and expectations. Red Star, with its history, the fact it is in Paris, for its spectacular supporters, for its stadium which is currently being renovated, we liked it straight away…We made a very good offer right at the last minute, but it didn’t happen in the end,” Pique said.
A brief look at Barcelona defender Gerard Pique's purchase of FC Andorra
FC Andorra were founded in 1942 and have a stadium capacity of 3,306. Located high in the east Pyrenees, FC Andorra play in the Primera División RFEF (Third tier of Spanish football).
Kosmos took charge of the club when they were in massive debt and were sitting just one point off the relegation zone. Director Ferran Vilaseca has revealed the reasoning behind purchasing the club. He told BBC Sport in 2019:
No one thought FC Andorra could be a very interesting prospect, but we analysed it and thought it had great potential.
Pique had reportedly heard of the club through friends and thought the club would be an intriguing proposition.
The Barcelona defender said back then:
"The main difference with other clubs in Spain is here there's a whole country backing up the team. We don't want to be just an investor, we want to be involved in the team, to make it better and place the team in higher divisions."
FC Andorra are currently top of Primera División RFEF Group 2, albeit only on goal difference. Just one goal separates them and Albacete with two games remaining. Meanwhile, Barcelona B are currently fifth in the the same group.
