Carson Yeung is "optimistic" a £50 million takeover bid for Birmingham City will prove successful.
Sami Yu, close friend and business associate of gas tycoon Yeung, told the Mirror: "I've met Steve Bruce before when I was a merchandising agent for Manchester United years ago and he was a player there.
Yu, a former assistant coach of the Hong Kong national side, is adamant football nut Yeung has no desire to make drastic changes if he buys City from David Sullivan and the Gold brothers, who want out.
"We plan to start the negotiations soon and hope it will be a simple, direct business," Yu added.
"Both sides seem very sincere and it looks optimistic. Our representative went to Birmingham and we got him to go through everything.
"We have had some meetings which have been very positive and the owners at Birmingham seem quite reasonable."
