Football finance expert Carlo Festa feels private equity owners are “not suitable club owners” and hopes Inter Milan and AC Milan are sold.
The Il Sole 24 Ore journalist gave his thoughts in a tweet, hitting out at the model that North American funds have brought to both Derby della Madonnina rivals.
Inter Milan and AC Milan both have North American owners.
I fondi di private equity non sono modelli di investimento adatti al calcio. Si adattano ad altri settori, generatori di cassa, ma non al calcio. Milan e Inter devono sperare di essere cedute a proprietà imprenditoriali con piani di crescita chiari.
— carlo festa (@carlopaolofesta) August 24, 2025
The Rossoneri have been under the ownership of RedBird capital for several years. Prior to that, they had been own by Elliott Management.
Meanwhile, last year Oaktree Capital took over Inter from Chinese company Suning after the previous owners had defaulted from a sizable loan.
This summer has been the first for the Nerazzurri where Oaktree have really been in fully control.
And there has been a very clear change in strategy in comparison to that of the last few years.
Oaktree have been more than happy to invest money in the transfer market. They have sanctioned four notable signings already this summer, and the feeling is that one or two more will also arrive.
That is after several years in which Inter have had to sell big name players and spend little replacing them.
Festa: “Private Equity Funds Aren’t Suitable Club Owners, Hope Inter & AC Milan Are Sold”
However, Oaktree have mandated that Inter go after young players with room to grow.
In previous years, the Nerazzurri have succeeded by signing veterans like Edin Dzeko, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Francesco Acerbi.
In the meantime, Inter’s city rivals Milan have enjoyed comparatively less success. All while the Rossoneri have themselves focused on investing in younger names.
Italian football finance expert Festa argues that “Private equity funds are not suitable models for investing in football clubs.”
“They’re suitable for success in other sectors,” he continues. “Generating profits. But not in football.”
“Milan and Inter will have to hope that they’re sold to owners who have a clear plan for them to grow,” Festa concludes.
Oak tree is doing fine. The club is still in massive debt, we need to balance the books and can’t spend stupid money. Obviously we would all like world class players signed but that’s not possible for us until we clear the debt. Our fan base has too high of an expectation. Chivu is a new coach, we need to see how it plays out with him before we invest into his play style. I don’t know why everyone including our fans think we’re not going to be good enough with the team we have to compete. Our defense is not as horrible as you all think, it’s still one of the best in the league when healthy.
agree
we have no future if we play only with 30+ years old players, people dont understand that if we dont earn reward money from position in CL and other competitions , we will have to sell 1 star every year so we manage our finances, we dont make enough from ticket sales and sponsors so we can operate on plus. Half of the money we made last year from CL and World cup will be used for salaries and other expenses.
Your comment makes no sense. We just made two CL finals in 3 years with lots of 30+ year olds.
Yes we need to shift to a younger team (which we are), but a player being 30 isn’t as big a deal as you make it out to be. You need experience.
A couple of players over 30 isn’t bad, but when half of your team is, and you have multiple players over 35 than, yes it’s a problem.
what’s wrong with oaktree? I don’t see problems at all except our transfer directors suck since marotta took the president role. I mean inter bought so many players in the last couple years only to be sold later and oh they love one season wonder players
Oaktree are doing a decent job in clearing the clubs debts, but long term we definitely need an owner who wants the club to succeed on the pitch… this summers spending is actually a bit of a myth… when you look at the outgoings, we’re not far off a zero net spend again, which is disappointing considering how much prize money we brought in last season… maybe there’ll be a surprise or two before deadline day…we shall see…
Transfer record
Arrivals/Departures Fee
Income 14 €42.00m
Expenditure 16 €91.70m
Overall balance €-49.70m
Not sure what point you’re making?
This so stupid cause we just got to the Champions league finals. Also they are making it sound like investing in young players is a wrong decision.