Saudi Arabia is using United Arab Emirates’ blueprint when it comes to sports, and particularly football. After holding company City Football Group, led by Abu Dhabi Group bought Manchester City, Melbourne City FC, Montevideo City Torque, Lommel S.K., New York City FC, Mumbai City, and Troyes AC, Saudi Arabia decided to start the same process. After acquiring Newcastle United, next in line is famous Inter Milan, which is, according to reports, already bought for around 113 billion Ksh. Once this acquisition is public, #Inter will become the richest team in the world. Furthermore, under the partnership with the KSA, through #Inter, Italy can think big and regain the international soccer prestige it has lost over the years.[via @IBTimes]— Inter Xtra (@Inter_Xtra) December 28, 2021 Saudi Arabia’s PIF is currently the ninth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, managing over 55 trillion Ksh. What’s even more interesting: The fund is planning to be the largest in the world by 2030, surpassing Norway’s current 178 trillion Ksh fund. The IBT reports the deal is already done and the paperwork will arrive at the Inter headquarters over the next few days. Just recently, Suning’s CEO Zhang Jindong said in a letter to all his employees that the debt problem is now being resolved. Movie-like story of Maurizio Sarri’s grandfather: The heroic rescue of American pilots during World War IIBut, everybody knows that Suning would like to take Inter off his burden as the Italian champions are losing 1.6 billion Ksh per month. The Chinese owners tried to trim down the losses in August when Antonio Conte left and was replaced by a cheaper Simeone Inzaghi, while Romelu Lukaku and Ashraaf Hakimi were sold, but still, Inter is losing money, and this takeover makes sense for the current owners. A sigh of disappointment from the Black Stars campInterest from PIF has been well documented in the past, way before they managed to pull off the Newcastle deal, but now IBT reports that the deal is done and dusted. And PIF won’t stop there: they are reportedly in talks to purchase Ligue 1 side Olympique Marseille and an undisclosed Brazilian top-flight team.
