Liverpool FC is quietly getting shopped for a sale

John Henry, the billionaire owner of the Boston Red Sox, has quietly signaled he’s willing to sell his other trophy sports franchise, the UK-based soccer team Liverpool FC, The Post has learned.

Henry — who on Oct. 28 was busy popping champagne as the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series — is running a “passive sales process” for Liverpool, according to a source close to the situation.

That means Henry is privately entertaining offers in an informal process that’s outside of an official auction — and is looking for a price well north of $2 billion, the source added.

“It’s for sale if he can get the right price,” the source close to the situation said.

Two other sources also said Liverpool is essentially for sale.

Reps for Henry, who bought Liverpool for $477 million in 2010, didn’t respond to calls for comment.

Despite the World Series victory, the Red Sox lost money this season, according to sources with direct knowledge of the team’s finances.

The Red Sox in 2018 had the highest payroll in baseball — about $238 million, sources told The Post on Thursday. The stratospheric payroll in turn triggered a “luxury tax” worth about $20 million that has helped exacerbate the team’s losses, sources said.

It couldn’t immediately be learned whether there was a direct connection between selling Liverpool and funding Red Sox losses.

Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski told The Post earlier Thursday, “We will never complain about finances. We have generous owners.”

Liverpool was recently given a $1.9 billion valuation by Forbes. In August, however, the Daily Mail reported that Sheik Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahayan, whose family governs Abu Dhabi, made an unsuccessful approach to buy Liverpool in late 2017 and into early 2018 with a Chinese partner.

That bid, which a source said fell apart because the Chinese bidders couldn’t cobble together sufficient financing, was said to be worth $2.6 billion, according to the report.

Reps for Fenway Sports Group — Henry’s holding company, which owns the Red Sox and Liverpool FC, as well as 80 percent of the New England Sports Network and 50 percent of Roush Fenway Racing — denied in August that Liverpool was for sale.

But that’s clearly not the case now, said sources briefed on the situation.

“This is not fake news” that Henry is willing to sell Liverpool, a London sports investment banker following the situation said, although he added that he doubts a sale will happen soon.

Fenway Sports Group did not return calls.

Investors in Henry’s FSG holding company include the NBA superstar LeBron James, who reportedly owns a 2 percent stake.