Brentford owner Matthew Benham open to selling Premier League club with price tag set

Brentford's owner Matthew Benham is reportedly considering selling the Premier League club for a whopping £400million.

Benham first invested in the west London team back in 2007, helping to clear some of the club's debts with an initial investment of £3million. Now, he could make over 100 times that amount as he values the club at £400m.

Sky News has reported that Benham, 55, has asked Rothschild to look into potential investment opportunities, which might result in him selling his controlling stake in the club. Brentford, who were promoted to the Premier League in 2021, are currently 14th in the league and five points above the relegation zone after a 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Tuesday.

This is a far cry from when the Bees were in League Two, which is where they were when Benham first invested. The Oxford University graduate took full control of the club five years later, and his approach using data has been key to their rise in English football.

A source told Sky News that even if Benham sells a majority stake, he plans to stay involved with the club. He wants to keep at least a minority share «for the long term,» having been a fan since the 1970s.

After he took over in 2012, Benham bought land for the new Gtech Community Stadium. This move took Brentford away from their old home at Griffin Park in 2020, having been there for more than 100 years.

Brentford issued a statement to Bloomberg News in December about people wanting to invest in the club. They said: «Given the recent rise and growth of our club and the changing shareholder landscape within the Premier League, it's no surprise that there has been interest in investment opportunities at Brentford FC.

»While Matthew Benham's commitment to the club remains as strong