Inter’s owners Suning would be committing ‘financial suicide’ if they sold a majority stake in the club now, according to Italian football journalist Marco Bellinazzo.
There has been no shortage of speculation this week regarding the Chinese e-commerce giant’s plans for the Nerazzurri, who were taken over in the summer of 2016.
Bellinazzo spoke to Radio Nerazzurri this morning in an attempt to clarify the rumours circling since Corriere dello Sport reported last weekend that Steven Zhang was looking to sell up.
“Suning have had liquidity problems like all large global companies, especially those based in retail trade,” the Il Sole 24 Ore journalist explained.
“What’s worrying is the need to balance the books with respect to the investments they’ve made in Inter.
“It must be said that in order to find liquidity from China, Suning are looking at the market in the same way as they did when they issued bonds last year; they are looking for ways to finance the club which are more convenient than the current ones, or even a minority partner.
“I can exclude that Suning are looking to sell an asset in which they have invested €650 million and which must bear fruit over the next two to three years.
“Other parties could enter by buying shares and injecting capital in order to allow Suning to invest less money than they do today.
“I don’t think they want to go below 51% ownership, otherwise it would be financial suicide.”
Bellinazzo then went on to add that there are currently no negotiations taking place with regards to the possible sale of shares in the Nerazzurri club.
“At the moment no negotiations have been started,” he said, albeit a report in Il Sole 24 Ore yesterday suggests talks have indeed started with British investment firm BC Partners.
“When talks begin it’s because you have two parties who sit down together for exclusive negotiations.
“At the moment there is none of this in place and I don’t understand how people can be talking about these issues in such a superficial manner.
“Everyone is doing their job by reporting the news but the financial negotiations which take place with these clubs are not the same as transfer stories.”
Bellinazzo proceeded to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on football, which has already had great repercussions as far as money in football is concerned.
“This will be the real season in which the effects of Covid will be felt.
“Inter will be missing out on €50 million due to the closure of the stadiums and with the elimination from the Champions League there will be €20-25 million less in the budget than what was expected if they had gone to the next round or further.
“You will have to resort to capital gains to keep the accounts in place, considering the investments in the team and the difficulty in negotiating salaries.
“You will have to find liquidity to refinance the bond possibly at lower interest, which the market that exists today can be found, and if a minority shareholder is found, the Zhang family is available for this solution, precisely because of the difficulty that has arisen.”
Financial problems will however not be exclusive to Inter or Italian clubs with Bellinazzo warning that others will be impacted as well.
“We have lost more money in Italian football than the rest of Europe because we are more fragile economically,” he lamented.
“We came in to the crisis in a worse position and therefore we are paying more for it.
“There have been losses of €700 million to date, let alone what the losses will be at the end of the year.
“Serie A is a lot worse than the Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga.
“Real Madrid and Barcelona are not living their best moments but are investing in their own stadiums and then when things are rebooted they will find themselves with an advantage.
“In Milan the stadium project is still being discussed, not even the construction site.”
In conclusion Bellinazzo admitted that fans should not consider the entry of further shareholders into Inter to be suspicious.
“If we are talking about BC Partners or other funds of this magnitude, there are no problems,” he assured.
“You shouldn’t look at the deal with suspicion.
“Football is the object of investments by large funds.
“Obviously, if strange funds begin to circulate, perhaps not identifiable by their owner, we must be more cautious.”