As you may have heard, as well as being the owner of Leeds United, Andrea Radrizzani is trying to broaden his portfolio by acquiring an Italian team.
He’s been at it for a while now, trying to get deals done here and there, but none have come closer than Salernitana, who were recently promoted to Serie A.
And it’s that promotion that has opened the door for the Leeds top man, as the club is currently owned by Claudio Lotito, who is also the owner of Lazio.
With rules in Italian football forbidding owners from having two teams in the same league, Lotito has been forced to find a solution to his problem, which is when Radrizzani came swooping in.
At least one offer was made, which was met with silence from the other side, who are trying to put together a trust that would allow them to avoid handing over the reins to a new investor.
This, however, hasn’t really sat well with Italian Football Federation, who had placed a July 3rd deadline for the Lazio owner to sort things out.
It’s explained the Leeds owner ‘doesn’t want to waste any more time because there is a season to prepare, a team to build and a relegation to avoid’.
That being said, he must also ‘come out and formulate a concrete offer’, suggesting that he’s still waiting for a reply from Lotito before putting forward a formal bid.
There is also a proposal from the Bin Zayed Group, who ‘would have made a greater offer than that of Radrizzani but perhaps with fewer guarantees’.
And if that wasn’t enough, ‘there would also be a third top secret offer on the plate, which the co-owners would be analysing to understand the goodness of the proposal’.
These are all the alternatives to the trust, and the clock is ticking, both for Lotito, but also for the Leeds owner.
