New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has explained why he turned down the chance to buy Liverpool.
The majority backer of the newly-crowned Superbowl champions had expressed an interest in taking over the Anfield club prior to its acquisition by George Gillett and Tom Hicks in 2007.
But new legal documents uncovered earlier this week revealed that unsolicited approaches were made to both Kraft and Bill Gates to buy the club in 2010.
Neither the sports magnate, who also owns MLS outfit New England Revolution, nor Microsoft chief Gates responded to the requests made by the erstwhile board.
And Kraft has revealed why he turned down the chance to become the new owner of Liverpool when former chairman David Moores was preparing to sell.
“We had a chance to buy it before them [Hicks and Gillett] and I came very close to doing it,” he told TalkSport.
“The owner there was a great gentleman. I think his name was Moores.
“I’m happy to compete but I want to win at everything I do and I think the way that people can spend money there without any limits or do things outside of the UK, it just would be hard to compete.
“I personally don’t believe you go into sport to make money. You go into sport to win.
“Teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or the Patriots, they bring a community together.
“If you could have seen 24, 36 hours after we won the game on Tuesday in Boston, it was raining and snow drizzle. We had a million-and-a-half people come to the streets on short notice.
“There’s nothing else that bonds things together like teams.
“People like myself that have the privilege of owning a franchise that is important to the community, we are stewards of trusteeship and we have to take it very seriously – and winning is the most important thing to me.”