Reports have claimed that Zhu, chairman of Nasdaq-listed online game company The9 Limited, has held provisional talks about purchasing the Premier League club. Zhu, who already owns Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua, is said to have met with Barclays Capital, the investment bank hired to handle the sale of the Reds, in Hong Kong in late April and more recently in Shanghai. Officials at Shanghai-based The9 would not confirm the talks had taken place, with company spokeswoman Phyllis Sai saying: "So far we have no comment on this." Zhou Liang, Zhu's assistant, also gave an enigmatic response about whether the 44-year-old had held discussions with Liverpool about making a bid for the 18-time league champions. "I cannot tell you any information at this moment," Zhou added. "(The report) was information from the English side. Information moves very fast but there are some entities that need vehicles to travel. As soon as they arrive in China, we will let you know."
