London: The football financier Keith Harris is spearheading a bid to buy a 45% stake in the Premier League football club Crystal Palace in a deal that could be worth close to £200m. According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, Harris is advising a group of businessmen including Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer on an offer to acquire the shareholding from Eagle Football, a vehicle created by American businessman John Textor, who owns a number of major clubs around the world. Sources indicated that Harris's consortium is a leading contender to purchase the stake in Crystal Palace, though other parties are also in discussions with Textor. Harris's group plans to execute the deal through a recently established corporate vehicle called Sportbank and may seek additional financing from other investors. Eagle Football is optimistic that selling its Crystal Palace shareholding will value the club, which recently recorded a win against Tottenham Hotspur, at over £400m. Stanley Tang, co-founder of DoorDash, has also shown interest in the stake, although his spokesperson denied any ongoing discussions. Textor, who refrained from commenting, aspires to control a top-flight English club and previously attempted to purchase Everton. That deal fell through, and Everton's owner reached an agreement with Dan Friedkin, owner of AS Roma. Eagle Football's interests include Olympique Lyonnais in France, Botafogo in Brazil, and RWD Molenbeek in Belgium. The holding company announced plans to confidentially file with US regulators for a public listing in the first quarter of next year. It seeks $100m from share sales before an IPO and intends to raise a further $500m through the flotation. The stake in Crystal Palace is being sold by The Raine Group, known for its involvement in transactions with Chelsea and Manchester United. Eagle Football aims to use the funds raised to retire existing senior debt and potentially place long-term senior notes, targeting an enterprise value of approximately $2.3bn (£1.74bn).