Inter’s financial situation is so dire that they have failed to make payments related to the shared stadium project with AC Milan, a report claims.
Milan and Inter officially launched their plans to build a new home together back in 2019 and they seemed to make a lot of ground, eventually choosing the Populous studio’s ‘Cathedral’ design. Then, a series of bureaucratic hitches slowed everything down.
Since Milan were sold to RedBird Capital it seems they have decided to build a new stadium on their own rather than continuing on the shared path with Inter, and the New York Times highlights just how bad their financial situation is.
They remark that there have been times where ‘cash has been in such short supply’ for the Nerazzurri that the club ‘has not been up-to-date on its share of the payments for the architects and designers working on the stadium it is intending to build, together with AC Milan’.
They speak of a ‘rolling financial crisis for several years’ for Suning, who in 2021 accepted a $1.36bn bailout – financed in part by local government – to help with spiralling debts. Their Chinese Super League team Jiangsu Suning dissolved months after it secured the title.
Steven Zhang, the 32-year-old son of Suning’s founder who serves as Inter’s president, was held liable for $255 million of debt and defaulted bonds in a Hong Kong court.
The sales of Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi helped to raise cash but the situation kept worsening and Suning secured a $294m loan from Oaktree Capital – a California-based asset management firm – to help with running costs.
Now, their main shirt sponsor DigitalBits – a cryptocurrency firm – failed to make scheduled payments on its $80m agreement. Paramount+ will have their logo on Inter’s shirts for the final on Saturday night in a last-minute $4.5m deal, but there is still a lot of money missing.
Repayment of the loan to Oaktree is due next May, and with interest payments it stands at around $375m. The revenue from Inter’s run in the Champions League will help but ‘another fire sale of talent’ is expected too.
If the club cannot repay the loan, Suning will automatically cede control of the club to Oaktree. Several parties have expressed an interest in buying the club but knowing their financial situation, nobody will come close to the $1.2bn asking price, not coincidentally the exact amount Milan were sold for.
Imagine Elliot buys Inter
Serie A rule forbid it as they still own shares at Milan.
Who was it that said we are way behind Inter and spend only peanuts on transfers and salaries? Big yikes my dude.
Malda was its name.. Real go getter
And also @Dan
Completely agree – a lot of muppets commenting on the Maldini firing, the small transfer kitty and the upcoming mercato should read this article with a magnifying glass! Even Stef at SempreMilan needs to ‘calm down’ with his negativity towards Cardinale.
Milan is FINALLY without debt, we are planning to build OUR OWN stadium, we just renewed with Leao! the club is in very good shape. How many clubs in Europe can say that they are debt free???
Milan is on a sustainability path and over time the club will increase their revenues and we will grow even more. Shinter is bleeding right now……
Remember that a football club IS a corporation, a company and needs to be run as such. Cash is KING, and Shinter got none!
Forza Milan
And according to one transfer pundit here: Inter has more summer budget, than us lol!
If you are refering to my comment earlier then you are EXTREMELY selective as i within a minute of my initial post clarifed that i had misread inter with inter milami and still you ignored that and replied to it.
If not then my apologies but fact is i have for a long time been saying that inter is in great debt and that i didnt envy their position,
When that is said considering we have played for a packed san siro all season, reached the cl semis (100+mil) and increased our sponsorship deals some with close to 20 mil its not unfair to expect a somewhat better transfer kit than 35 or even 50 mil as the club should be within it means to invest maybe 70 mil
Theres a saying that goes as this “strike while the iron is hot” and that would actually fit the fact that we have been succesfull and needs to grab that chance now.
@Martin I have read your previous reply, in other post.. I was referring, to other guy, who said that: Inter has higher, transfer budget than us!
Ok fair enough and my bad then but wasnt sure if you refered to that messi comment i made earlier 😀 my apologies
“And according to one transfer pundit here: Inter has more summer budget, than us lol!”
Well… They might. But they’ll have to sell a key player or two to make it possible. I doubt that we’re selling anyone for over 30M€ (and that would be CDK if any).
But even if Inter collected 100M€ again with sales that won’t last long. May 2024 aka the Judgement Day is coming… 😀 😀 😀
Is that not the day, they are supposed to pay Oaktree loan?😄 Or Suning will, have to give up ownership…🤯
Yep. They have to conjure 375M€ from somewhere in/before May 2024. Fun times ahead, fun times I tell ya! 😀 😀 😀
Thats the whole point of these muricans.. Milan is, for once, or again, ahead of the curve in Italy in that aspect.
There is only one way to go. Up.
Inter and Juve, the other 2 of the big 3 in Italy are so deep in the red they will need to sell to survive. Milan dont need to sell anyone. Milan is stable.
And its not because of Maldini but because of the system muricans are trying to establish
Milan was there too, before Wall Street arrived. Then Maldini was told for years that a salary cap would be needed until the debt was cleared. So he fought tooth and nail to bring valuable prospects and extend them for cheap. Now that the debt is a thing from the past and that the club is making profits, he was ready to raise the salary cap and get more money for transfers. It doesn’t mean that he wanted to buy 100M players or give Maignan the same salary as Benzema. There is a huge gap between these assessments, that Maldini haters are trying to narrow. In the end, he got 35M, less than last year, and he got fired because he wasn’t happy. Thank you for everything, now get out. So where the profits are going now?
I am in full agreement with Bartholomeo here. I think it’s evident that Maldini has been ‘used’ to attract talents like Theo, Leao etc and convincing them to sign extension for less. Now that we regained some of the honour and prestige by reaching SF of CL, Maldini’s charm is no longer needed by Redbird.
Those bashing Maldini forgot that he had also contributed to our Scudetto with a young team, and it is only logical that if we’re to challenge CL next, we need to compliment this young backbone with some experienced head. I don’t think Maldini wanted to sign players in the vein of oil rich clubs, and I won’t want that either. The rumoured 35M kitty fund is just ridiculous when you consider that we’ve been doing better than last season financially and almost in the black now.
It is still possible to make profits and improved the team to have a respectable run in the CL. But apparently, (from the interviews suggested) what Redbird seem to like is to maximise profits, and maximizing it FAST. Every players are just a set of numbers in their fancy excel spreadsheet, that should be sold for profits and easily replaceable with younger, data-backed version with some potential. How could there be bonds formed amongst the players now, knowing that they’re just a pawn in the chessboard? Would players like Tonali wanna spend the rest of his career in Milan, knowing that one of our biggest legend is treated with such disrespect?
Maldini, having been a legendary player and winner of multiple CL trophies, probably knew better than anyone that we have something special brewing. Maignan/Theo/Tomori/Kalulu/Tonali/Bennacer/Leao would be a make a very, very exciting backbone for a team who wished to challenge CL and we have a 4-5 seasons window to do so (as their contracts run out mostly in 27-28). Enough time to complete the puzzle slowly but surely.
I don’t know. I just wished I could see that Milan. Redbird version of profiteering doesn’t excite me. What I want to see is continuity, to have the same backbone for few years, not just a mere puzzle pieces that could be traded for profits.
It’s easy for people to say that Milan above all else, of course it is. But, when do this lines get so blurred? Is this the same Milan we fell in love with? The Milan who pride Baresi and Maldini as the one man club, not to mention any other legends who call this place family home, the one where players could spent decades in the club as a loyal and honorable servant. That Milan would never disrespect her legend this way. It’s just a pity that everyone can’t play nicely with each other when we have what I think is a special bunch of players since our 90/00’s heydays.
It’s just so depressing. I really wish I could be a little more optimistic like many of you here.
Apologies for the long post.
What fast profiteering sir? What player has been sold?
Why are people panicking just because Maldini got fired?
Milan has been in existence for 125 years. Long before Maldini and it will exist long after Maldini. Players have come and gone, coaches have come and gone, directors have come and gone, even owners have come and gone.
There is no more important person in Milan history, especially in the last 40 years when Milan established themselves as the top club in the world, than Silvio Berlusconi. He is gone and Milan is still here. And Milan is still trying to get out of the mess he left them in by not adapting to the new way of football.
At least give it the summer to see what this new group has in plan before acting like the sky is falling because Maldini got fired.
One club player was always rare and almost non-existent in today’s football in all clubs. Stop looking at these players like they are your family members, so they have to stay with Milan the rest of their career.
Profits go to Elliot and shareholders of Redbird.
Well said @Bartholomeo
Exactly. To all the people comparing us with Inter, Juventus and all the other examples of clubs they want us to be like in massive debt and failing.
This is an example of a club with irresponsible spending focused on winning. Many Serie a clubs are running the same risks. So yea, I’m all for responsible spending and statistics to endure Milan don’t end up the same way like they did under Berlusconi’ love years.
In a few years Milan can really start to dominate as Juve and Inter try to balance their books while we build our own modern stadium. We could end up like Bayern in Germany!
Pls let them give Hakan Calhanoglu more money, pleeease!🤣 Even though I hate Inter with passion, I’ll still support them for the Champs league final as it will boost Italian football❤️🖤
Trust the process.
When Berlusconi first arrived, the first order of business he did was to fire former Milan legend and then coach Nils Liedholm. He signed an unknown shoe-maker in Arrigo Sacchi and the history of Milan exploded from that point on.
Legends come and go, and although I would say that the way that they got rid of Paolo Maldini was in poor taste, perhaps it was a necessary step for this current Milan to evolve into something…. bigger, better and more sustainable in the long-term.