Genoa President Enrico Preziosi has given his thoughts on the impact of Suning’s ownership of Inter on the Italian top flight.
Speaking in an interview published in yesterday’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Genoa President offered his opinion that the present ownership of the Nerazzurri have been economically problematic for both the club and Italian football as a whole.
Preziosi was speaking in the context of the economic problems among Italian football clubs brought about by the impact of COVID-19, and he sees Suning as having been unable to offer much-needed economic support at a pressing time.
Revenues for football clubs have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, and Inter are known to be among the clubs hardest hit by the economic issues associated with the lack of fans in stadiums and other problems brought about by COVID-19, and Preziosi believes that this is because of problems with the ownership model associated with Chinese investors like Suning.
He stated: “We have suffered a very hard 2020, closed with revenues down to €430 million, from €700 million the previous year, halved margins and €34 million losses. But we [Genoa] have relaunched to return to growth. We want to go public.”
He contrasted Inter’s situation the following way:
“Selling clubs like Inter Milan to Chinese investors did not help Italy. When our teams need resources, Beijing does not seem to respond.”
