Erik Alonso won't be the 'main man' behind Derby County's takeover, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.

Reports emerged last week claiming that the Spanish business man had agreed a deal with Mel Morris to complete the purchase of the Rams, with a decision now with the EFL who will put it through the standard Owners and Directors Test.

It's thought that a decision from the EFL on that will come by the end of this week, according to Sky Sports.

Supporters are naturally very excited by the prospect of Alonso's takeover, but according to Maguire, the former Sheffield Wednesday advisor may only be the 'frontman' of the deal, rather than the main financial backer.

Speaking on The Price of Football Podcast, Maguire explained: "This is a deal which has been announced by Derby. It’s not yet been signed off by the EFL. Just a slight word of caution here. The person involved or the person fronting this is a guy called Erik Alonso.

“Now, I was contacted by somebody who said he’s not the main man; he’s the frontman. He’s a fixer, as far as this deal is concerned.

“The real money – now I don’t know how accurate this is – but we have seen references to it.

“There’s a consortium, and the money actually is coming from Indonesia with a guy called Raja [Sapta] Oktohari, who is involved with the Indonesian International Olympic Committee. His father has been the senior politician in the country, and he’s also mates with a guy called Eric Tahir, who historically has had part-ownership of Internazionale and DC United.”

The verdict

I don't think that this will be too much of a problem for Derby County fans.

In any deal like this there are numerous parties involved in a consortium with some taking on a more dominant role in terms of profile.

Erik Alonso seems like he'll be the man in the spotlight, but it's no surprise to hear that the bulk of the financial firepower may be coming from elsewhere.