IN WHY ARE MAN UNITED AND LIVERPOOL SUDDENLY ON THE MARKET?

English soccer’s two most storied teams are suddenly in play.

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Manchester United has joined great rival Liverpool in opening its doors to a potential buyout that could be the biggest in sporting history.

Following the sale of Chelsea in May, it sets up the prospect of three of the biggest Premier League clubs changing ownership in just a few months.

Newcastle was also bought by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund last year.

So why this relative, but rapid, flood on to the market?

The acquisition of Chelsea by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital was a unique case, with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich forced to sell after being sanctioned by the UK government for his links to Vladimir Putin.

Still, it feels like a significant factor in what has followed.

For any would-be sellers out there, it established a definite interest from the world’s super-rich wanting a piece of soccer’s most popular league.

Boehly and Clearlake fought off rival bids from Chicago Cubs owners the Ricketts family, Boston Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca and UK billionaire Jim Ratcliffe among many others.

A fee of 2.5 billion pounds ($3 billion) for a team that has a smaller stadium than any of its elite Premier League rivals has set a marker for United and Liverpool, who have long-been the most popular in England, with enormous global reach.

United claims to have more than one billion worldwide fans and followers.

It also has by far the biggest stadium in the Premier League, with Old Trafford’s capacity at more than 75,000 in contrast to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, which holds around 42,000.