An Arab investment fund which is related to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund is concocting a plan that could eventually lead to taking 100% control of AC Milan from Gerry Cardinale and RedBird Capital Group.
As has been reported by La Repubblica (via Milan Eye), there is the potential for the fund in question to repay Elliott Management Group, the former owners of Milan, their €550 million vendor loan and interest rate which was given to RedBird to finalise the purchase of Milan in August 2022.
That money is effectively Cardinale’s debt to Elliott which was needed in order to facilitate the takeover.
If the Arab fund were to pay that money to Elliott on behalf of Cardinale, it would allow him to then sell his entire stake in the club to the Arab fund and Milan would be under new ownership again.
Cardinale recently travelled to the Middle East in order to secure fresh investment that would end Elliott’s financial control over the club, so at least part of this news would be welcomed.
It is known that he is keen to have the vendor loan paid off before the end of 2024, although it does not need to be paid back until 2025.
Is this the Christmas gift Cardinale was talking about? Sadly, it’s just a fake report.
Lots of talk going around that pioli might be sacked and an Arab fund is seriously considering taking over milan. What the hell was the point of cardinale? He must know that he can’t pay back that loan and he’ll lose everything.
There’s also rumours that this Arab fund is very very close to Maldini and Leonardo and Maldini would have full control.
He is there to make money. He raised the total value and will net a good profit for investors. I expected it in 2 years, not right now, but same thing.
I would be very glad if this happens cos am tired of this shit pioli is doing
As much as i detest cardinale and his merry men i really dont like the saudi arabs sportswasjing their image either but besides of that i can pretty much guarantee the lot of you here that the stadium project most likely will be set back again and anyone who think that the arabs in the even of a takeover just can insert huge amounts for transfers obviously doesnt understand ffp.
Anywaus o doubt that this little tale has much to do with reality.
Yes, it isn’t really like that. Check Newcastle and their revenue. Almost doubled in 2 years. From where?
Epl also gain them a lot of revenue so thats part of the equation.
They have been in EPL for how long? Their revenues did not go over 200M ever, until the new owners came in. Now they expect over 400M.
Im not saying they doesn’t bring anything but fact is club owners isn’t allowed to artificaly increase advertisement deals to bypass ffp which can and most likely will cause huge issues down the road for them.
Expected, well epl also just got an extremely good tv deal at 12 bil if i remember correctly so that might play in as well.
Anyways thanks for keeping the discusion at a sound level.
Yes they can? Same as PSG and City get their money. Through monstrous sponsorship deals from companies that are controled by their owners.
PSG exploited a a previous loophole in the ffp and inserted great amounts of cash in to the club so again thats part of the PSG equation.
Regardless of money though considering their complete disregard of human rights we could just as well be bought by Putin or some right wing clowns neither sounds much better or worse in my view as they all sounds apalling.
After so many years of support of the club this might actually turn out to become the final straw for me.
And how are USA different to any of these countries?
First of all if it was up to me then european clubs should only be owned by europeans. Its not like we sell the Mona Lisa to the highest bidder either as its cultural heritage i view our football clubs the same way.
USA and American owners certainly isnt perfect eitther but in human rights they are still an improvement compared to Saudis.
If milan were to be bought by the Saudis milan should from day one stop paint itself as a club that believe in equality and indiviuals rights anything else would be a mockery.
because Cardinale and other American billionaires operate independently, while the Middle Eastern investors represent their governments/ rulers — specifically, the Qataris, Saudis, and Emiratis.
Buddy. Where were you about Human rights when over 20000 kids, elderly and wimen slaughtered by isreal?? Pls zip
Ive always supported a two state solution so you dont know what you are talking about Toni.
How did this conversation go from Redbird to this? Chill out, man, no one is asking for your political views on a football related website. It is just a clickbait article.
Meant for @Toni
I understand the moral issue you’re trying to bring in, but you could argue that each big company or big politician that is/ has owned the club bring with himself various problems regarding human rights among other things. Berlusconi wasn’t exactly the cleanest politician (to really say the least), elliot, redbird are americans and are “probably” involved in a lot of controversial affairs regarding minimum wages employees, tax evasion, climate change,…
Heck you could say, all this huge money thrown to big clubs and big clubs is a bit over the top.
Now of course with the saudis or emirates for that matter, it will be a different ballgame altogether. Being owned by an american company, doesn’t mean you’re backing the US, and you can still openly criticize the goverment, while being owned by a saudi company means you’re pretty much involved with the washing their current goverment is doing.
But anyways, I don’t really like diving too much into geopolitics when we’re mostly concerned by winning our sundays games on a weekly basis.
And this article might be a clickbait anyways, so I think it’s a bit too soon to have a political debate.
Well i think ive explained my stance pretty clearly iover several replies after being attacked and being accused for being both a biden supporter and a racist in this article thread because people didnt have anything better to bring to the table.
Fact is that ive been a milan fan for 34 years since i was ten years old and had no political consicence and i probaly wouldnt have become a fan in the 00s if that was when i had found the club as i really didnt like the politician berlusconi even though i recognize and appreciate what he did for the club nevertheless.
Theres a huge difference though between firms, shady politicians and regimes backing the club i support.
Would people really not care either if it was Putin or nazi germany in the 30ies with all their nazi gold coming knocking or the door, let alone israel, i suspect people are hypocrites but i refuse to accept the saudis coming in and sportswashing their public mage.
In the end though i appreciate both yours and some of the other commenting here even if we doesnt fully agree but for those attacking me with completely ridiculous accusations they can pretty much eat a bullet for what i care.
In the end though its not like im really fond of our current ownership either but hating 1 doesnt exclude the other either.
I think ive pretty well and thoroughly made my stance clear over various posts while being attacked and ridiculously accused for being a Biden supporter and a racist as funny as that combination sounds in my ears its completely preposterous and show the level of intelligence amongst some of the commenters here so i do actually appreciate your sound take on the matter even though we doesnt really agree because theres a difference between shady businessmen and corrupt shady regimes like the Saudi one.
I suspect a lot of the people around here are hypocrites who cant see beyond their own nose tips because im sure some ownerships wouldnt suit them either and ive mentioned several here as well, Funny thing is that every time anyone criticizes the saudi regime people are accused for being racists even if not mentioning anything about race to begin with but regardless of that i dont intend to keep my mouth shut on that matter,
the Saudis can and will inject money to detour FFP, City and PSG do it perpetually.
They give money to companies, they sponsor the team. They sign huge transfer targets, say Mbappe,
a new sponsor pays a portion of the salary for exposure, the shirt sponsor coughs up some of it, what is over their FFP, they slide over in an envelope for a stadium, commercial sponsorship, whatever. When there is a will there is a way.
Everytime they tried to ban City or PSG, they hired lawyers, bought out judges, the paid off fines, add brown envelopes to UEFA, FIFA and no one does shit to them. They can boost the price of tickets in corporate suits, pay their corporate partners to buy them to artificially buy the seats, give the tickets away. High profile players bring more merchandise sales. The team wins and make more prize money.
Rinse repeat.
And all of those clubs are pretty much under investigation so its pretty much p1ssing in the pants to stay warm so it wont last long before they end up risking huge problems. Its bound to happen.
City risking getting demoted as they have somthing like 110 cases against them and everton got a ten points reduction for one far more mild case so i cant wait to see what happens with city which certainly must be far more severe. Its gonna happen down the road.
I will believe in the FFP when City get sent down several tiers. Until then, it’s a nice joke.
It might take years but if it doesn’t happen then they will most likely get sued themselves for for example the handling of everton as they committed a far smaller “crime” than city.
Can u pls shut up about this ffp in fact shut up about everything
How about you shut the F up yourself Kenneth and in the future stay clear of me instead of trying to offend me the first time you reply to me.
oh shut the F up mortin,you just dont want arabs to control Milan coz you’re racist MF
Typical bs coming from a simpleton like you to stoop down to that when I haven’t said anything remotely in regard of race and you don’t have any thing sensible to bring to the table, Fact is that i don’t want a regime backing the club i support.
I guess its all about the money for you then, I guess you would have been salivating had nazi Germany been backing AC Milan in the 30ies and early 40ies or if Putin came with a bag of billions today.
Oh yeah and by the way I’ve had girlfriends of different race than my own so bugger off with your ridiculous accusations or is it just the fact that I dont talk nicely about the Saudi regime.
when did you learn gibberish?
Yeah you surely bring a lot to the table.
yes thats what the kids here want, Milan to be as corrupt as City and all the titles to be tainted
No kids want an American owner that will sell within 5 years. Really exciting.
You already showed you have 0 clue about AC Milan kid. Ask your youtube idol football kush who was Berlusconi and what he did when he took over AC Milan. He was the Abramovic of Serie A. Biggest money at the time was thrown at biggest names. Because he could.
They forgot who Berlusconi was or how we became what we are today.
Well i dont but thats not the same as starting to support a club when i was ten and had no political conciense mean that i should sit in silence as an adult 44 year old either.
Pretty sure a lot of you here wouldnt like milan to hypothetically be owned by trump, putin, kkk members or neo nazis so lets see how your lack of morals tested then.
That’s true to be honest, but the issue is that this article is not even true to begin with. I don’t think there’s a need to argue over this.
You are right and I probably was a bit too crass im my comment towards you as i generally believe we are on very good terms so my apologies. I also think its just a made up story in the media but i would become pretty damn furious to see an arab takeover but again my bad Doki.
How can you talk about moral when USA are no different to any of other countries e.g. China, Russia, S. Arabia? They wage wars around the world for natural resources and exploit instability with millions of innocents killed as collateral.
I didnt say that they are morally great either and as i said further up if it was up to me then european clubs should be allowed to be owned by anyother than europeans. When that is said ill take USA any day above the mentioned countries regardless of their flaws.
shouldn’t be allowed to be owned by any other than Europeans
I see you’re a Trump hater! Truth is Trump would support and invest if he was Milan owner, just like he did when he was the president of USA. You seem to rather have idiotic and clueless Biden administration ruin this country, just like Cardinale is ruining Milan. To win you need a lot of money and Arabs can provide that – Milan fans want to win but don’t want Arab money – kind of contradicting themselves. Berlusconi did exactly what Man City is ding – pumping tons of money in to bring the best players.
Im not even american and i wouldnt vote for any american presidents neither current or previous ones. None.
When that is said im not gonna discuss trump with you because its clear to hear you are brainwashed and a great deal of those voting for him doesnt give a damn about right or wrong as long as their cult leader say somethings its right in your mindless heads.
Lol, do you even know the club’s history?
all you care about is Milan spending 300m on a single player so you can brag to your school friends about how rich this club you “support” is or brag on twitter and have a d*ck measuring contest with city “fans”
good goal man, totally why you should watch football
What kind of comments are these? How old are you kid?
There he is again @Boulden I mean @Pioli no no it’s @Boulden lol. The Maldini hating, Redbird loving, anti-Arab cat in this chat. Soon as you say Arab or Maldini he appears and spews his hateful rants. Ya ya we get it. Maldini is evil and the Arabs are corrupt and Redbird is righteous and can do no wrong LOL. Does that about sum it up for you?? Unbelievable.
Now I doubt any of this is true but it would be nice if it was the case so we will see. I don’t see Gerry selling until he gets that stadium built – or unless someone makes an incredible offer he cannot refuse. We shall see. We all agree Pioli needs to go but I doubt that will happen before the end of the season unless we lose a few more in a row. Should be an interesting month.
ah are you an Arab? how does it feel living in poverty, with the government not bothering to provide any benefits while your princes wastes billions for their entertainment? LOL
imagine being rich enough to make everyone live comfortably but being fine with your rich princes doing whatever they want LOL, the definition of sheep
Boulden is mentally ill, 100%. He has some real real issues that don’t fall into the someone getting you agitated, he is like this all the time.
I am disappointed by Pioli, by Leao, by Hernantes and all other stars. We have had many talents like them, remember Niang and Balottelli? They remained talents and never grew up. I have supported Milan since 1960s, when Gianni Rivera was our star and later the three Dutch players, Weah, Kaka, Maldini and Schevscenko. Sorry, we have no such players anymore. And Pioli should have been kicked off after the crash against Inter. Merry Christmas and A happy new year!
I absolutely agree!
That will be great if it happens. And no, i doent expect the arabs drop 300$ mil on 1 player right away. Those days are gone. But at least hope the new owners will care for the club and what it represents. In other words completely diffetent from red bird. They destroyed what M&M and elliot built in less than a year. Still nothing on the stadium excpect empty words. Bunch of crooks.
People here condemn Arabs for human rights violations, poverty among people etc. And how are USA different?
PIF is Arab state fund but don’t forget RedBird are owned by private fund and bankers. And what banks do with the money and where they invest? I don’t have to point it out do I.
Ted you are wise man
You don’t have to like either and one would be backing by a regime, quite the difference.
I hope this is not just a painful teasing positive news…
#RedBirdOut
Better Arab owners that will give even an ounce of what Milan stands for, than this band of clueless owners and the excruciatingly painful experience of watching Pioli ball every week…. Every other thing is secondary in football.. our “human right loving” owners are currently making the fans hate the sport.
I don’t think it would happen this way. The only way MidEast fund takes over is if Redbird defaults to Elliott, so Elliott could then sell Milan off again, essentially.
i’m sure that’s why they sold to RedBird in the first place, maybe because they suspected RedBird wouldn’t be able to replay the loan come due date…
Curious how it plays out.
You mean like they knew when they gave it to Li?
Elliott is a so called “vulture” fund, this is what they do…Of course they picked Redbird that needed a loan.
Yup. Smart business by Elliot. They could have sold to Investcorp for cash. But the smart business move was to sell to Redbird who needed a loan from Elliot to complete the purchase – so as you said, if they default, Elliot takes over again, and sells us once more for more profit. Business 101.
Yes.. Let the Arabs take over.. Make Milan great again!
That’s the only way for Milan to get back to the top again, Forza Milan ⚫️🔴
Newsflash: every billionaire has extremely shady activities. You don’t become a billionaire without exploiting and ruining a bunch of people. Period. BTW Berlusconi used Milan for political purposes. You can see how he injected cash each time he ran for PM of Italy and when he wasn’t running, he didn’t invest. Once he was banned from politics, he stopped caring about Milan and sold it to scammers. He never made it into a financially viable club because it was just a toy and a tool to him.
💯💯💯💯
People on their moral high horses here bashing the Arabs but conveniently forgetting who our former beloved, (but corrupt) owner was LOL. You all need a history lesson.
I know who berlusconi was but i became an ac milan fan 34 years ago when i was 10 and didnt have any idea of who he was and let alone any idea about politics, had i started following football later when i had an idea about politics it might not have happened but Juro let me ask you a question because i assume you are from finland how would you like it if Putin came with a bag of billions and bought the club would you then have double standards and refuse such takeover because if so then it would be pretty hypocritical of you to say so.
Sacking maldini and massara was a most stupid decision. Furlani and moncada have no clue of club management and milan are paying the price for giving full power to these two incompetent guys.
Maldini was perfectly right to dump pioli.
Amen.
Monster Elliott hope red bird no money to pay loan. They control Milan again and sold milan to other group.
This thread quickly turned geopolitical about a funding that might or might never come.
It’s understandable the moral concern some might have about being owned by the saudis. However each company, billionaire owner comes with his own set of “shady business”. Heck, our most legendary president, berlusconi, was one of the most corrupt politicians there is. Red Bird, Elliot,… are capitalist corporates that (most certainly) have their own problems with minimum wage workers, tax evasion and pollution among other things.
And let’s be honest, this whole football business, UEFA, FIFA,… are some of the dirtiest and most exploitative systems currently on this planet.
With that said, being owned by a Saudi or an UAE company is a bit different. Being owned by an american doesn’t mean you back the US, and you can still openly criticize the latter, while being owned by saudis and emirates most liklely mean you’ll be helping them whitewashing their image.
But again, I don’t feel like diving into geopolitics so early, about a most-likely rumor, in a website that was mostly designed to discuss about our weekly games.