The sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia Pif, after Newcastle, also wants to buy Inter: negotiations at an advanced stage
After Newcastle, Inter too. The sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia Pif (Public Investment Fund), is in talks with the group Suning for the purchase of the Nerazzurri club. The crisis of the Nanjing giant and the possibility that, after the re-election of Beppe Sala as Mayor of Milan, the question relating to San Siro represent two significant thrusts to the acceleration of the transaction.
Suning values Inter one billion euros, a demanding investment, but he would certainly find it much more attractive if the club had a stadium among its assets.
To have a term of comparison, it should be remembered that the PIF has just completed the acquisition of 80% of Newcastle for 360 million euros. A further comparison is that with the PSG, controlled by the Qatari sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority: the 2020 turnover of the PIF is 500 billion dollars, compared to 400 billion of the quatariot rivals.
The bottom of Mohammed Bin Salman, Saudi crown prince, is aiming decisively at the creation of a network in the world of football, including the Marseille and a Brazilian club. The reference model is theAbu Dhabi United Group, owned by Sheikh Mansour, who controls Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City, Troyes, among others, as well as having stakes in other clubs such as Girona and Yokohama Marinos.
The PIF fund wants to do the same thing, at the cost of challenging UEFA’s rules, which prohibit the timeshare of multiple clubs registered in the same tournament. The risk is very high: Inter are already participating in the Champions League and Newcastle, with the reinforcements expected from the next transfer session in January, certainly want to become a regular protagonist.
A solution will have to be found and it will certainly be easier than the problems posed by NGOs such as Emergency And Human Rights Watch, which underline the lack of respect for human rights by the Saudi regime.
Among the objectives of the royal family of Riyadh there is “also” an energetic cleaning of its reputation and football has an unparalleled communicative strength, especially when it comes to offering the world a positive and winning image.