The prominent Chinese businesspeople behind a proposed takeover of Reading Football Club were previously subject to a Premier League investigation that raised “red flags” over their commercial background.
Earlier this month the English Football League, the governing body for the country’s lower professional divisions, provisionally cleared the acquisition of Reading by Dai Yongge and sister Hawken Xiu Li.
Chinese companies have invested in or acquired more than a dozen European football clubs during the past year, including Manchester City, Inter Milan and Aston Villa — a spending spree that followed President Xi Jinping’s call to transform the country into a football superpower.