AC Milan have been in a highly publicized negotiation over the sale of the club just over a year since leaving Silvio Berlusconi’s ownership. Yonghong Li has found himself in need of a life raft after UEFA sanctions and Rocco Commisso seemed to be his man.
Earlier today it was reported that Commisso was just waiting for Li’s official yes on his latest offer and was instead working on his defense for the appeal of UEFA’s Europa league ban. Now Sky reports that Li refused the offer so Rocco is going to negotiate with Li’s emissaries himself as to cut out the middle man so to speak.
Rocco Commisso released the below official statement:
“As numerous press reports and social media accounts have publicly suggested, Rocco B. Commisso has been negotiating to purchase a controlling interest in AC Milan. Many of those reports and accounts have contained statements about Mr. Commisso and the negotiations that come form unspecified sources and have not usually been accurate. Until now, Mr. Commisso’s team has refrained from making public statements about the status or substance of the negotiations in order to preserve an atmosphere conducive to concluding a deal. However, Mr. Commisso believes that the time is right to let millions of AC Milan fans know exactly where things stand.”
“Mr. Commisso has worked tirelessly with the assistance of his advisors to formulate and negotiate a transaction beneficial to this historic club, it’s loyal fans, the current ownership and the community of Milan. Despite his best efforts and genuine belief that an agreement had recently been reached, it appears that current ownership is not willing to conclude a deal on acceptable terms in a timely manner.”
“Given Mr. Commisso’s passion for the game of soccer and ties to his native Italy, this is an extremely unfortunate situation for him personally. However, he hopes the end result of this process leads to a stable and successful future for this iconic club.”
As a response to this statement it seems Yonghong Li has new advisors form White & Case Hong Kong for the the negotiations of the sale according to Il Sole 24 Ore.
