Inter’s owners Suning could sell a share in the club to prospected investors BC Partners much sooner than most anticipated, a leading Italian journalist claimed this evening.

Maurizio Pistocchi told his followers on Twitter that the British investment firm had wowed the Suning owner Zhang Jindong with ‘a manifestation of interest of an incredible value’.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks about the future of the Nerazzurri’s ownership structure following a scoop from Corriere dello Sport last weekend, announcing that club president Steven Zhang was looking for new partners.

“BC Partners’ project involves the growth of a global media company, in the same way a lot of English clubs have,” Pistocchi said.

“They consider head coach Antonio Conte to be an elite-level manager for his industry.

“Suning and BC Partners are discussing the details of their contracts and the financial incentives involved.

“The deal could be finished very quickly because the money being offered is higher than what Zhang expected.”

Pistocchi did not specify in his tweets whether BC Partners’ offer regarded a minority or a majority stake.

This has become the main talking point in the last 48 hours as it is now clear to everyone that the private equity firm are interested in Inter and are in talks with Suning.

It remains to be seen whether BC Partners would have been prepared to make such a tempting offer to pick up just a minority stake in the club, or if they really are planning to take full control of Inter.