If you have been following the Leeds United page of Sport Witness of late, you will have seen our articles relaying reports from Italy regarding Andrea Radrizzani’s attempts to buy Salernitana.
For those who aren’t up to speed, the bottom line is Claudio Lotito, who owns the newly promoted Serie A side, is forced to sell as he already owns Lazio, and the Italian Football Federation don’t allow the same person to be at the helm of two clubs in the same league.
That’s where Andrea Radrizzani has come in, as the Leeds boss has made an offer to take the club off Lotito’s hands, although the reported amount of said bid has been changing from week to week.
The Elland Road club owner hasn’t commented himself on the situation, but someone close to him has in the shape of Sandro Mencucci, who is on the board of directors at the Premier League side and has been given the responsibility of dealing with the Salernitana purchase.
Already confirming the initial bid a week or so ago, the businessman gave an update to Salerno Sera on Sunday.
He said: “Unfortunately, we have never received any feedback from [Salernitana]: our offer expired [Saturday], but we wanted to renew it until Friday (July 9th), also inviting them, with an accompanying email, to answer us, at least as a matter of courtesy”.
Mencucci confirmed the offer is a ‘bit lower’ than the reported €45m, before adding: “The problem is different: no one has ever told no, or ‘no, it’s not enough’. There was precisely an absence of answers: perhaps there is a lack of willpower”.
Mencucci then made one thing clear: the current offer is valid until Friday, and if Salernitana decide to go forward with their plan of putting a trust in place to manage the club for six months or so while they find buyers, then Radrizzani’s bid is off the table.
Basically: “Either we buy now with burdens and honours, or we don’t care after the trust”.
As for what the Leeds men had planned for the club, he quickly said: “Radrizzani is inside the world of sport, he runs a company that deals with media and sports and is the owner of Eleven Sport. A few years ago he bought Leeds United who were in the Championship, and after 16 years of absence, he brought them back to the Premier League doing a good job.
“Andrea is Italian and would like to have an Italian company with which to develop interesting synergies. Sooner or later he will have a Serie A club”.
Whether that is Salernitana, however, remains to be seen and depends entirely on Claudio Lotito and co.
