La Liga champions Atletico Madrid are close to agreeing a sale of a 20 percent stake in the club to Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, reports AS.
Club president Enrique Cerezo has flown out to Beijing to meet with chief executive Miguel Angel Gil, who is already there working on negotiations with Wang over the sale.
Wang, owner of the Dalian Wanda Group, has a net worth of $13.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Wang's investment in the club is said to be worth a reported 40 million euros. Once the deal is completed, it is expected Wang will eventually succeed Cerezo, who has been president of Atletico since 2002.
Atletico have gone through considerable financial trouble over the past years and this move appears to be paving the way for them to increase their popularity and revenues within the Asian markets.
Wang's considerable reach as owner of the largest number of cinemas in the world among other ventures is cause for optimism among Atletico supporters, who have seen their club struggle to compete financially with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Spanish football has seen a growing number of foreign investors in the last few years: a member of the Qatari royal family bought Malaga in 2010 and more recently, Singapore billionaire Peter Lim bought a majority stake in Valencia.
It appears Atletico are still benefiting from their La Liga success last season as a team that is a growing force both on the field and commercially.
Reuters are reporting Wang has ambitious plans to move the team away from their Calderon stadium to a new 70,000-seater stadium near La Peineta within the next couple of years.
Plans are also said to be in place for a new training complex, including a 15,000-seater stadium for the second and third teams.
Wanda have arranged a news conference that will take place on Wednesday, where it is expected the deal will be announced.