Could this season be the end of the road for Steven Zhang as President of Inter Milan?
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, anticipate that the answer is yes. The newspaper highlight the Inter President’s increasing legal woes that further complicate his situation.
32-year-old Zhang has been Inter President since 2019.
He had a role at the club for the three years previous to that as well. The young businessman had been a big part of Suning taking a controlling share of the Nerazzurri.
But now there are big doubts about Suning’s future as Inter owners.
The current Nerazzurri owners face the looming deadline of a sizable loan from US-based fund Oaktree Capital.
That deadline is May 20th of this year.
Should Suning default on the loan, they will lose control of Inter. Their shares in the club will pass into the hands of Oaktree per the terms of the loan agreement.
Corriere Predict: Time’s Up For Steven Zhang At Inter Milan
The Corriere anticipate that the margins are now getting very difficult for Suning to extend the deadline of their loan from Oaktree.
Whilst there may still be a bit of time to find an agreement either on an extension of the deadline, or on refinancing the debt, there’s not much.
So the Corriere are predicting that Suning will not be able to retain control.
That would certainly mean the end of Zhang’s time as President of Inter.
Meanwhile, the Corriere also note that the Inter President recently lost an important legal case.
A Milan Court of Appeals sided with Chinese creditors of the Nerazzurri chief. They upheld a Hong Kong ruling that Zhang must repay debts owed to the Chinese Construction Bank Asia.
That ruling means that Zhang’s creditors can collect from his assets in an Italian jurisdiction.
This is a further matter that compromises the Inter President’s capacity to continue in his role.
