Joseph Muscat Tried – And Failed – To Broker A Purchase Of The Crystal Palace Premier League Club
Joseph Muscat reportedly attempted to broker a purchase of Crystal Palace FC in 2019 on behalf of Wasay Bhatti – in a deal which eventually failed.
Palace, as the team is known to fans – not to be confused with the Crystal Palace Tea Room in Rabat – is a Croydon, South London based professional football club – which is currently ranked 12th in the Premier League.
A Times of Malta, The Shift and OCCRP investigation has reported that Muscat attempted to broker the team’s purchase in a deal led by Wasay Bhatti – a Swiss investor who was previously linked to Muscat and the now controversial Steward Healthcare Hospitals deal.
Muscat told the Times that he was “involved towards the end of the deal with Crystal Palace as it fell through”.
The investigation revealed one of Bhatti’s companies – Accutor – provided notarised accounts to prove they were able to produce the funds necessary to complete the transaction and acquire Palace.
Accutor was bankrupt within a few months.
Muscat was sworn in as Chairman of the Malta Professional Football Clubs Association in 2022, and has since led a rebrand of the Malta Professional Football Clubs Association – to become the “Malta Premier League”.
We can only speculate that having failed to acquire his portion of a Premier League Team, Muscat has tried to bring that allure closer to home.
This is not the first time that we have seen powerful Maltese figures taking towards the football field, in an apparent career overhaul.
Had Muscat successfully acquired Palace, it would have been interesting to see if he had chosen to follow a similar path – and put on his own pair of boots.
Are you surprised to hear about this failed acquisition?
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