Wembley stadium sale: FA board to vote on £600 million proposed deal with Fulham owner Shahid Khan on Thursday

Board members are reportedly split on the potential sale, which will fund grassroots investment

A proposed £600 million deal to sell Wembley stadium to Fulham owner Shahid Khan will be put to Football Association board members on Thursday.

If the 10-person FA board votes in favour of selling to Khan – who also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise and has been in talks to purchase Wembley since February 2017 – it will be presented to the 127-member FA Council in October for approval.

Board members are reportedly split on the proposal, with some regarding it as a “no brainer” while more traditionally-minded voices are wary of the short-term benefits of a sale.

It has even been claimed that the FA will insist on a £100m buy-back clause in the deal that gives them the right to re-purchase Wembley at a vast discount if Khan fails to maintain its status as one of Uefa’s elite tournament venues.

Khan wants to use Wembley to strengthen the Jaguars’ presence in London as the NFL continues to consider the possibility of a full-time franchise in the English capital.

Wembley recently hosted Anthony Joshua's fight with Alexander Povetkin (Getty)

The FA, however, will keep their headquarters at the stadium and England will reserve the right to play home international fixtures there, while it will also continue to host cup and play-off finals.

Money from the sale would be funnelled by the FA back into grassroots football, and the deal has already been publicly endorsed by chairman Greg Clarke and chief executive Martin Glenn.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Sport England and the Greater London Authority are all understood to have signalled their support for a sale on the proposed terms.

But the FA board’s three national game representatives, elected from the grassroots amateur game, could provide the sternest opposition to the potential sale. “The decision rests with these guys who may be voting with pure emotion,” a person familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times.

Clarke and Glenn are said to want unanimous backing from the FA board for the deal with Khan before putting the proposal to the FA Council, whose members hail mostly from the amateur game.