InterSpac President Carlo Cottarelli: “Hopefully If Inter Sold New Owners Will Be Open To Fan Shareholding Model”

InterSpac President Carlo Cottarelli is hopeful that if there is a sale of Inter by current owners Suning, it will give fresh hope to his project.

Speaking to Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview published in today’s print edition, Cottarelli expressed the hope that if the Nerazzurri gets new owners they would be open to his initiative for fan shareholding.

Cottarelli has been working for over a year on the InterSpac project, aimed at transitioning Inter towards a different ownership models in which shares in the club are partly held by fans and the general public.

So far, the project has not gone very far, due in significant part to the fact that the current owners Suning have not been receptive to working with Cottarelli and InterSpac.

However, recent reports have suggested that the current owners are ready to sell the club, and in this case Cottarelli feels that the situation could be changed.

“I can only suggest to the future buyer, whoever that may be, to weigh up the idea af letting fans join the shareholding structure,” he said.

“Doing so would have a number of advantages,” he continued, “it would inject fresh capital at no cost, avoiding the need to pay millions of euros in interest.”

“Furthermore, a close link would be created between the fans and the club, so as to increase the revenues from merchandising and ticketing.”

Cottarelli explained that “Last year we talked about it, but the owners replied that they were relying on a their own business model and did not feel the need to involve other shareholders in the shareholding structure.”

“We’re now available to sit at the table with anyone who is at the helm of Inter in the future.”

Cottarelli summed up the team’s current problems as being that “If the club is short of resources, then it becomes difficult to retain talent and keep the team competitive.”

He continued that “I believe that there’s no doubt that Inter need to have a greater return in terms of finances to avoid the future sacrifice of other top players or to support transfer windows with a balance of net zero.”

“The last two summer transfer windows have improved the accounts of the club but have not facilitated the growth of the team.”

“For months there’s been talk around Skriniar, first his sale, now regarding his contract extension.”

“The hope is that the sale of the company guarantees an injection of capital to provide solidity,” Cottarelli added.