American Textor plans global transfer network to beat the system

RIO DE JANEIRO : American billionaire John Textor has bought stakes in soccer clubs around the world and he wants to build a network of teams to find talent and move players seamlessly around the globe.

Textor’s interests include Brazilian club Botafogo, Premier League Crystal Palace, French Ligue 1 Olympique Lyonnais and Belgian second division Molenbeek. He is also looking closely at Portugal.

His plan is to beat the system dominated by the big European clubs, by developing young talent from North and South America.

"If I can find 11 players that are better than the players you can buy, I can beat you," Textor told Reuters.

"Who is going to care about these leagues 20 years from now if it's the same winner every time? Whether it's Russian oligarchs or Saudi, Qatar or Abu Dhabi state owned clubs, the concentration of wealth... How does the rest of the world compete?

"I want to build a fabric of collaborative clubs in countries that were respected because players from the top markets do get to migrate more fluidly around the world."

Brazil has become an obsession for Textor, who has owned a youth soccer academy in Florida since 2008. He believes that, despite being the biggest talent producer in the world, Brazil still has very little scouting and an underdeveloped academy system.

"I'm trying to open up these pathways so that I can unlock massive resources of talent that are not in the system," Textor said.

"I see players in North America as having a tougher time moving around the world system of soccer.

"So you have thousands upon thousands of very talented players that are never going to be part of world football. I wanted to have clubs at each one of these environments where if I meet a kid in South or North America it’s an