AI predicts the value of Southampton FC as Simon Jordan drops sale claim | OneFootball

Simon Jordan has claimed that Southampton Football Club is up for sale so FLW asked ChatGPT how much the club may cost.

TalkSPORT pundit and former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has suggested that Southampton are for sale following Saints’ relegation from the Premier League and back down to the Championship this season.

Jordan, who was chairman and owner of Palace from 2000 until they entered administration in early 2010, speaking on TalkSPORT, has claimed that there is a rumour circulating that Southampton’s owners, Sport Republic, are interested in selling the club.

Given the claims made by Jordan, Football League World asked the AI-generated chatbot, ChatGPT, what sum interested parties may be asked to fork out for the south coast club.

AI predicts the value of Southampton

According to ChatGPT, Southampton Football Club is estimated to be worth approximately £250 million should the rumour that Sport Republic be interested in selling the asset.

Described by the chatbot as a ‘mid-tier English football club’, the estimation takes into account the fluctuations in Saints’ league status having now entered into the realm of what many football supporter or pundit would describe as a ‘yo-yo’ club with two top-flight relegations and one second-tier promotion in their last three seasons.

Their historical reputation for a strong youth development system is also a factor recognised by ChatGPT as the potential future sales of many stars and starlets is one that may be attractive to a prospective buyer.

Sport Republic, which is an investment firm that is reported to have a combined net worth of £5 billion led by Serbian billionaire Dragan Solak and co-founded by Danish duo Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft, spent a reported £100 million to acquire 80% of the club in January 2022.

The suggested figure of £250 million, which is a number based on considerations as of April 2025, is what ChatGPT believes to be the total value of the club including debt.

Southampton’s Sport Republic ownership

Southampton, as mentioned, were taken over by Sport Republic in 2022 less than 18 months later with the clear recruitment strategy being to speculate on unproven talents both domestically and abroad.

This is a recruitment strategy that has left supporters become immensely frustrated and has left them as one of the worst clubs in Premier League history this season, still sitting on 11 points which remains the lowest Premier League points tally ever, recorded by Derby County in 2007/08, with four games of the season to go.

There are two other football clubs within the Sport Republic portfolio, Valenciennes and Goztepe, and both of those sides have also endured struggles on the pitch in recent years.

They took ownership of Valenciennes in the summer of 2023 and oversaw their relegation from Ligue 2 down to Championnat National last season, finishing rock-bottom of the second-tier and they are now mid-table in the third division.

As for Goztepe, perennially a top-flight club in Turkish football, they were taken over in August 2022 and but finished sixth in the second-tier in their first season before gaining promotion last year. They head into the final six games of the 2024/25 Turkish Super Lig sitting six points clear of the relegation zone but winless in their last 11 matches in the league.