Championship news: Sunderland's rivals 'close' to £90m takeover by mystery billionaire

The Times state that an African billionaire is close to completing a £90 million takeover at the Championship club which will ease the “financial crisis” at Bramall Lane.

The identity of the potential new owner is not yet known with reports stating that it remains a “closely guarded secret”.

Sources have told The Times confirmed that a deal has almost been finalised and that the potential buyer is now the subject of the EFL’s owners’ and directors’ and that no problems have yet occurred with the process.

Sheffield United are currently second in the Championship behind league-leaders Burnley. However, The Blades are 12 points clear of Middlesbrough in third position and look favourites for the automatics spots and a return to the Premier League.

United – managed by former Sunderland man Paul Heckingbottom – also have a game in hand over Michael Carrick’s Boro. However, the club are currently under a transfer embargo which currently prevents them from buying players under the ownership of Prince Abdullah from Saudi Arabia.

The embargo has been imposed by the EFL because of issues around payments to Liverpool for attacker Rhian Brewster, who moved from Anfield to Bramall Lane in October 2020 for £23.5 million but there are also issues surrounding other previous deals.

The £90milliom bid to buy the club by the mystery African buyer is said to be more viable than the previous bid by Henry Mauriss, who was close to buying the club, only for that deal to collapse.