Pangeran Tunku Ismail From Johor Desires To Buy Valencia: Money Is Not My Motivation

JAKARTA - Pangeran Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim from the State of Johor in Malaysia expressed his interest in buying La Liga club Valencia from Singaporean businessman Peter Lim.

The 36-year-old prince posted a series of Instastories which included screenshots of articles about Valencia and a website that reveals the club's value of 408 million euros. He also made a statement regarding why he was interested in buying the club.

Prince Johor, owner of Malaysian Super League club JDTFC, said money was not the motivation, but "glory and creating history."

"I am not new to football," he said on the ESPN website as reported by Antara.

"I have founded the Club (JDTFC) from every year fighting to avoid relegation to become a dominating champion. I have won 16 titles in eight years. We are the largest in Southeast Asia and one of the biggest in Asia."

"I want to expand my Empire, spread my wings and face new challenges. I am not one to change the club logo or tradition. I am here for glory, success and history. What does Valencia need? You need someone who knows football, is hungry. success, passionate and know for sure how big Valencia is as a club. "

Lim himself has not said he wants to sell the club. He acquired the then debt-ridden Valencia in 2014 but then fell out of favor because he repeatedly sold off his top players to reduce Valencia's debt.

The Valencia owner has been harshly criticized for selling out players like Dani Parejo and Rodrigo last summer when the club did not buy any new players to play for the team.

There have been calls from Valencia for Lim to release his shares, which since controlling the shares of Los Che in 2014 he has appointed seven coaches.

Valencia coach Javi Gracia has been criticized for only winning twice since the start of this year. Defender Gabriel Paulista couldn't even hold back his tears when asked about his team's situation after losing 0-3 against Getafe last weekend.

Los Che are 14th in the La Liga standings or five points above the relegation zone, ahead of Friday's match against Villarreal.