Inter began preparation for Europe’s new Super League with AC Milan and Juventus nearly six months ago, a report in the Italian media revealed today.
Corriere della Sera’s print edition said Serie A’s three Northern powerhouses started their ‘big manoeuvres’ when Steven Zhang and Andrea Agnelli were invited to AC Milan’s headquarters on September 28 by the Rossoneri’s CEO Ivan Gazidis.
The trio were originally meeting to discuss plans for the league’s new media company, which was due to have a 10% stake sold to a private equity consortium for €1.7 billion.
Everything changed after a few days of negotiations however, when Real Madrid president Florentino Perez visited Juventus’ offices and met Agnelli for three hours.
Agnelli called Gazidis the day before AC Milan were due to present their latest proposals on the media company to Lega Serie A’s assembly, advising him to go ahead as planned – but then Perez stepped in again and persuaded Gazidis to perform a U-turn.
The media company proposals would have obliged Inter, AC Milan and Juventus to promise they would not endorse any kind of Super League project for the following 10 years, a commitment they clearly could not make.
Zhang and Agnelli abandoned the media company project completely on February 4, paving the way for Sunday’s announcement which sent shock waves through European football.
