Just over a week ago, we covered a story in the Italian media that Leeds United boss Andrea Radrizzani was looking to buy Salernitana.
The Elland Road owner has been looking for a project in his home country for quite some time, and when the Serie B club were promoted back to the top-tier, a door was blasted open for him.
That’s because the current owner is Claudio Lotito, who is also the Lazio major stakeholder, but rules in Italian football prevent someone from owning two clubs in the same league.
Therefore, a sale was needed to be done quickly, with the FIGC giving him until June 25th to get it done.
Step in Radrizzani, who sniffed the opportunity a mile off like a shark honing in on a droplet of blood.
The Leeds boss was said to be ready to reach a figure of €60m to take Salernitana off Lotito’s hands.
However, TuttoSalernitana are reporting that the first offer from Radrizzani was just €40m, exactly half of what the current owner wants (€80m).
Since then, they claim the contacts have ‘definitely cooled down’, with a trust taking over the club by tomorrow to then sell it on a bit later, beyond the deadline, the likeliest outcome.
While that sounds rather disappointing, Cronache Salerno see it very differently.
Their article on the matter on Thursday is very optimistic, claiming Radrizzani is ‘one step away’ from owning Salernitana.
That’s because ‘the latest relaunch seems to have had the desired effects’, as Lotito and his partner, Marco Mezzaroma, are ‘exhausted’ from the battle with the FIGC regarding the approval of the aforementioned trust.
Now, the pair ‘seem determined to hand over the club to Radrizzani for a sum of just over €50m’ following a meeting on Wednesday where ‘the last details would have been filed and the white smoke could come shortly’.
The Leeds owner also ‘agreed to grant Lotito an economic bonus based on the results achieved’, because he’s nice like that.
Radrizzani travelled personally to Italy to get this deal over the line, which was a great help, and the ‘€50m or so offered’ seem to have finally convinced the two co-owners to give up’ with the official announced potentially arriving today, Thursday June 24th.
Basically, ‘if Lotito says yes, there will be a white smoke’, and if he does, ‘a new era at Salernitana is about to begin’.
