Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has rejected speculation that his company are looking to take over West Ham United. The Sun reported in December that Red Bull were preparing a bid for the London club but Mateschitz has denied there was any truth to that story.
The Austrian said it would be unwise to own clubs that could face each other in European competition some time in the future, and that it may contravene some UEFA regulations. He told the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten (translated by ESPN FC):
“There is nothing to it. That’s not even idle speculation. It moreover would be an enormous stupidity to think about an addition in England after a successful involvement at Leipzig. That would be wrong from a sporting perspective. To mix everything together would at one point also not be in accordance with UEFA regulations.”
Mateschitz currently owns four football teams: Red Bull Salzburg, MLS side New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Brasil and RB Leipzig. As he says, his particular concern about clubs meeting in European competition relates to Leipzig, who look set to establish themselves as a top club in Germany after spending part of this season at the top of the Bundesliga table ahead of Bayern Munich.
