Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani is facing a race against time to get new club Sampdoria registered to play in Serie B next season.
That’s according to Tuttosport, who say the Italian club’s destine ‘hangs in the balance’ despite Radrizzani’s recent takeover at the club.
The newspaper explains that the club’s salvation from complete financial calamity is linked to the debt restructuring plan presented by Radrizzani and his associates but that is yet to be signed off.
The proposal they’ve made would see debt at the club drop from €150m to €80/90m and allow Radrizzani and his group to start ‘a little less uphill’ following their agreement with owner Massimo Ferrero on 30th May.
As of today, though, Sampdoria are not yet registered to play in Serie B and ‘time is running out’ for the Leeds owner to get that done as the documentation must be submitted by 20th June.
One of the biggest debts Radrizzani has to pay is that to agents, who are currently owed €21m but have been offered just 40% of that to be paid over three years. That is still considered too low by some of the agents involved.
Thus, they are now in a ‘risky stalemate’ as the conditions are not there for agreements to be signed and their salvation secured.
If that can’t be done by the 20th, then they risk being demoted to the lower categories in Italy and being forced to start again from there.
The real risk is that the agents continue to hold out, perhaps even forcing Sampdoria into bankruptcy so they can get their players out of their contracts and then move them wherever they wish.
It is this issue which Radrizzani and his fellow investors need to overcome and Tuttosport state that the reality is that the debt restructuring plan they’ve proposed will have to be signed by Monday at the latest ahead of a shareholder’s meeting on Friday.
One factor that may help them is Radrizzani selling Leeds United, with it announced on Friday that an agreement between Aser Ventures and 49ers Enterprises for the purchase of the club had been reached.
That could potentially give Radrizzani the money he needs to solve matters at Sampdoria and save them from bankruptcy and complete demotion in Italy.
