Steven Zhang is buying himself and Suning more time at Inter by securing a loan with Oaktree Capital, a report in the Italian media explained today.

As per Gazzetta dello Sport’s print edition, Suning have three years to repay the €275 million (plus interest) they have received from the US-based private equity fund.

If Inter’s owners can’t respect those terms then they will lose control of the club, having pledged their 68.55% stake at Inter as collateral, leaving Oaktree to take over.

This is a similar arrangement to the one that saw Elliott Management replace Yonghong Li as AC Milan owners in 2018.

Zhang has three reasons to believe Suning will find the money in time to repay the loan and stay in charge at Inter, the Milan-based paper explained.

These three sources of income are Inter’s continued presence in the UEFA Champions League, the return of fans to stadiums and cutting costs at the club.

Inter will use €240 million of the €275 million deal to cover costs for this season and the start of next season, and none of it will go towards financing their summer transfer campaign.

The Nerazzurri’s business will need to be self-financed, and Oaktree will not interfere in the transfer window.