Inter Corporate CEO Alessandro Antonello has reiterated that Nerazzurri owners Suning are not interested in selling the club, although they are interested in minority investors.

Speaking to media outlet Financial Times, the executive stressed that the current owners have no interest in selling the Nerazzurri despite rumours of a sale to the Saudi sovereign investment fund.

The Nerazzurri’s debt and liquidity issues as well as the issues at the parent company Suning.com since the beginning of the pandemic have made the operation of the Nerazzurri difficult for the current owners and led to speculation that they could sell their controlling share.

However, Antonello made very clear that the Chinese company continue to have a vision for the club and that they are seeking minority investment as well as new revenue sources and infrastructural improvements as ways to stabilize their ownership.

“No, no, no,” Antonello responded when asked if Suning were considering the possibility of an outright sale. “The shareholder [Suning] is committed to long-term investment in the club.”

Antonello and the club did not comment on whether there have been talks with the PIF, but according to the Financial Times a source close to the club denied any contact.

The Nerazzurri executive also noted that one of the main thing that Inter as well as other Italian clubs must do is keep up with the English Premier League, whose broadcast revenues are set to climb to £10.4 billion during the 2022-25 cycle from £9.2 billion.

“We need to be stimulated by the improvement of the Premier League in order to work very hard and to recover the gap,” Antonello emphasized.

The CEO also spoke of “competitive balance” being necessary in the game to keep fans interested, which the Financial Times took to be a reference to the failed Super League project from last April.

Given that revenues among Serie A clubs have fallen more sharply than revenues of clubs in other European leagues, the necessity for structural improvements to the earning power of Italian clubs appears clear.

As the Financial Times note, talks with external investors such private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Advent International, as well as Italian investment group Fondo FSI, failed to come to anything, with CVC eventually turning to invest in La Liga instead.

Antonello was keen to stress that this kind of external investment is “not the only way” for Italian clubs to reverse their downturn in fortunes.

“It could be private equity, it could be something different,” he explained, “but what’s most important is to have someone supporting us in a new governance and creating value-added for Serie A in the future.”

The Nerazzurri as well as city rivals AC Milan are continuing to press on with their plans to build a new stadium to take the place of the San Siro in Milan, a key component to securing their financial futures.

Meanwhile, despite absolute denials that a sale to the PIF or any other buyer is on the cards, the club are also looking for minority investors to inject capital into the club.

Ultimately, Corporate CEO Antonello stressed that the current owners are fully committed to the Nerazzurri for the future, even though there are many difficulties that they must navigate.