VPS Health Group, which has been linked with the rumoured acquisition of Indian Super League (ISL) team Kerala Blasters FC (KBFC), on Saturday denied reports linking it to the football team, calling the rumours "baseless".
"The Group stated that neither VPS Health nor its Founder, Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, has been involved in any discussions regarding the acquisition of the club. VPS Health reaffirmed that the circulating reports are false and have no factual basis," their statement read.
How did the rumours begin?
This comes as the wildly popular football team, known for its loyal 'Manjappada (Yellow Army)' fanbase, is currently facing one of the toughest financial crises in its 12-year history.
The owner, Magnum Sports Limited, has been looking to sell the franchise due to these losses, but has not found a buyer yet.
Though V.K. Mathews, the owner of the Super League Kerala club Kozhikode FC and the chairman of IBS Software, had earlier expressed interest in the ISL club, the IBS Group backed out, flagging Magnum's asking price of ₹150 crore.
The Group claimed it was too high, and that there was too little time before the next ISL season to assemble and train the squad under new management, an OnManorama report said.
The KBFC's financial burden reportedly spiked over the last season, and got worse after the Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the commercial partner of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), stepped away from managing the ISL, bringing an end to the broadcast and commercial revenues that clubs had previously received.
This meant a loss of about ₹30 crore that the KBFC used to receive annually from broadcast and commercial revenue, in addition to the FSDL's financial support as well. This also led to the ISL's broadcast rights, previously valued at around ₹270 crore, steeply falling to about ₹8-9 crore last season.
To top it all off, the player transfer window remains open until August 31, but strengthening the 13-member squad and its trimmed management team still requires a significant investment.
It was at this juncture that the report added Magnum was in talks with a Malayali entrepreneur abroad, which could have led to a number of media outlets speculating that the KBFC's prospective buyer may be Dr Vayalil.
With VPS Health now out of the picture, concerns are again mounting about who could lift the club out of its financial woes as August 31 looms.
