´óÏó´«Ã½

Bournemouth owner Bill Foley is looking to purchase a club in Portugal to add to his Black Knight multi-club group, amid talks with Lisbon club Casa Pia.

Negotiations with the Lisbon club remain at an early stage as alternatives are considered.

The Portuguese top-flight outfit also have interest from other US-based investors.

But they are attractive as Portugal and particularly Lisbon is a hotbed of domestic talent, with the league becoming an important first step for South American talent when coming to Europe.

Foley, 79, is the lead investor in Black Knight Sports and Entertainment consortium, which begun building a City Football Group-like model - pioneered by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi-based owners - to be competitive within football.

The group first bought National Hockey League franchise Vegas Golden Knights before moving into football with Bournemouth in 2022.

They have since purchased a minority stakes in French Ligue 1 club Lorient and Scottish Premiership side Hibernian, while also owning Auckland FC in New Zealand.

In an interview with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport in the US this summer, Foley said of his plans: “I believe it is realistic because we are putting a great team together, with a lot of younger players.

“We are trying to be careful with how we do this. We have a multi-club strategy so we promote players from Club A to Club B to Club C to Club D. We now have four clubs, and we are about to acquire a controlling interest in another club. It is all designed to give the players a path to the Premier League.

“If we can do that, we should be able to be competitive and not have to kill ourselves financially. We are not a sovereign wealth fund or private equity. We are just simple little guys from America who came over and bought a team."