Bari in Serie A? De Laurentiis should sell the club. And quickly

And now how can you not think about it? After the 1-1 draw in Cagliari, Bari dreams of Serie A. Of course, amidst a thousand superstitions. However, the promotion would have suffered an obligation to be fulfilled: the company would have to be sold, and even quickly, according to what the famous article 16 bis of the Noif says, even five days before the application for registration in the championship. Reason? You cannot have a double ownership in the same category and the president of Bari is Luigi De Laurentiis, son of Aurelio, number 1 of the Napoli champion of Italy.

THE STANDARD

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Article 16 bis regulates timeshare, prohibiting the possession of “relatives and in-laws up to the fourth degree”, and provides for a particular situation precisely for companies that were purchased before the approval of the new federal rules. In July 2022, the federal council said yes to a provision that increased the time available for the transfer. In practice, if Bari were not promoted on Sunday, De Laurentiis would have until 2028-2029 to sell the club. All this if one condition weren’t met: playing in the same league as Napoli. At that point, the years would become days to give in. What could happen from Sunday evening.

MAYBE ALREADY IS THERE

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There is an understandable official silence on the matter. As if there was a world until the end of the return game and a world a second later. The rumors suggest that there is already more than a potential buyer, or in any case some well-underway negotiations that have in mind a very short-term plan A (promotion) and a medium-term plan B (lost playoffs).

SALERNITANA

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There was a precedent that must have advised De Laurentiis, as long as there was a need, to prepare for the eventual but possible sale: the Lotito-Salernitana case. Two years ago, the Campania promotion created the need for a sprint sale. Which did not occur by the longed-for June 30th. In fact, the transition phase of the “blind trust” was necessary with the appointment of trustees, ferrymen independent of the old property, able to manage the company in the interregnum to find the buyer. A further limit of another 6 months was set, until 31 December 2021. On the one hand, Salernitana in the middle of the ford spent an autumn as a predestined victim, finishing the year in penultimate place (then after the sale it achieved a surprising salvation), but Lotito himself – precisely to avoid exclusion from the championship – agreed to sell at a figure very far from his initial claims (10 million instead of the 60 of the first request), almost to the gong, to the current owner Danilo Iervolino. A chronicle that the De Laurentiis naturally want to avoid.