Gerry Cardinale spoke to FT, talking of his meeting with Paolo Maldini and saying “there is a huge opportunity at the macro level with Serie A”.
Financial Times wrote a piece today about the change of ownership at Milan, talking to new owners Gerry Cardinale and giving a breakdown of the deal that sees RedBird acquiring the club from Elliott.
One of the first things Cardinale did after landing in Milano at the end of last month, having just sealed a €1.2bn deal, was visit Paolo Maldini, the Rossoneri Technical Director who days earlier told La Gazzetta dello Sport that it was ‘disrespectful’ that Elliott had not spoken to him about his future, with his contract (still) due to expire at the end of June.
“It was very important to me that I did that”, Cardinale told Financial Times of his lunch with Maldini. “We ended up spending three and a half hours together… it was fantastic.”
FT explained how the RedBird-Elliott €1.2bn deal is structured: “Elliott agreed to lend RedBird €600mn at a 7 per cent interest rate, a sum expected to fall to €200mn later this year as the firm raises money from existing investors and partners. The fund also secured warrants, financial instruments that Elliott could convert into an equity stake of between 1 and 2 per cent if the club were sold again or went public, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.”
“This enabled us to move on a dime, get a deal done, enable them to continue to participate in a way that they like to participate,” said Cardinale, who founded RedBird in 2014.
One of the top priorities of Cardinale is to build a new stadium for Milan. The Rossoneri, together with Inter, have been trying for years to get a new stadium in the San Siro area approved but could now change their direction towards building a new arena – alone – in the Sesto San Giovanni area.
“A brand of this scale, like Milan, should have infrastructure that is indicative of its football prowess and global potential,” Cardinale stated to Financial Times. “We’ve had a lot of experience with stadium projects in the US. Milano and Italy deserve a world-class stadium that houses the best of sports and entertainment on a global scale.”
“There’s a huge opportunity at the macro level with Serie A,” the new Milan owner said of differences in money in clubs between Italy and the Premier League. “There should not be this kind of revenue differential on the media side between Serie A and the English Premier League.”
The media speaks of Cardinale wanting to turn Milan into a ‘media company’, which most likely mean getting more and more brands involved with the Rossoneri. FT writes that “A new stadium heads a to-do list for RedBird that includes striking a media rights package for all of Serie A as well as enlisting celebrities and fashion brands to inject some glamour into the Milan brand”, adding that “Leveraging Milano’s status as a global fashion capital — Armani, Versace and Prada are among the brands that call the city home — is also part of RedBird’s multipronged strategy to build Milan as a business.”
The new era of RedBird has started, even if the famous ‘closing’ will take a few more months.
Now your pals, give him some money to invest!
End of June when Maldini’s and Massara’s contracts expire is right around the corner and all I see in media are sweet words from this shady Cardinale. Where are their extentions?!?
Its true Ted. They need action not words. Still we have no idea what their strategy is and what budget they have allocated. Given that “closing” will take 3 months, there may be no budget. Interesting how any other takeovers happen quickly, including Chelsea who are under much more complicated restrictions. As an American, he needs to learn the club is the fans, not a spreadsheet. In U. S clubs move from city to city and its all about merchandising. Soccer is different Therefore he needs to get the fans on board with their projet. That means signing up Maldini… Read more »
We need to focus on strengthening our starting 11 before worrying about our back up 11. This is just pure logic Therefore dont spend more time and money on defenders. There are plenty of experienced free agents/young players to bring in as squad players, including from our youth team. Why we are not pushing hard for Dybala is baffling. An experienced, world class no 10, 28 years old, for free!! Spend our 100m budget on a striker and a RW, like nunez and de ketelaere. The extra money needed for sanches can be made from sales of samu, krunic, alexis… Read more »
GK: Mike
RB: Calabria /Florenzi
LB: Theo/young player or free agent
CB: KALULU/GABBIA/free agent
CB: Tomori/kjaer/ Roma
CM: Bennacer /Tonali/Sanches/Pobega/Adli
AM: Dybala/Diaz
LW: Rebic / Leao
RW: Messias / De Ketelaere
ST: Mister X/Origi/Giroud
The forwards i have proposed can change positions.
Mister X = Darwin Nunez
OBVIOUSLY This is not going to happen but this is how we should be planning.
Its all about priorities!
Milan wasn’t built in a day!
My wet dream 11 would be:
Nkunku
Leao-Bennacer-Pulisic
Tonali-Sanches
Theo-Tomori-Kalulu-Calabria
We need mostly depth players, alternatives for Sanches and Theo, Pobega and Adli could potentially take over for Tonali and Bennacer. I’ve always seen Bennacer in AM position, he used to play there. Besides, he would play from the deep, giving our midfield of two a hand. Leao and Pulisic on the wings would be deadly, they are both explosive and tend to win the duels.
Thats a beautiful team!!
Bennacer is such a classy player he can play any midfield position. Reminds me a bit of iniesta.
He was in and out of the team the last few months, hope he is an automatic pic next season, whatever the formation.
Pulisic being American would be a great addition both for his abilities and marketing potential.
If we get quality AM, RW and striker we will have a terrifying team
I settle for a signing. You have a whole list, and we are linked with so many players. Yet NONE have arrived. I want to be positive but i fear a similar situation as January. Linked with everyone and got 18yr Laz.
I would hate to be linked with all these big names and end up with nothing. As has often the case been the past few years. Anyway keep positive attitute.