Fiorentina CEO Joe Barone has quashed rumours regarding the Saudi PIF fund’s interest in taking over the Viola. ‘Enough with these things’.
La Nazione has reported the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the owner of Newcastle United in the Premier League, is interested in buying Fiorentina, but CEO Barone has quashed the reports.
The fund was previously linked with Inter but Amanda Staveley, the managing director of PCP Capital Partners and right-hand of the Arab fund, recently claimed Serie A ‘is a mess’.
Barone hits out at reports regarding a possible buyer and the journalist coming up with the ‘gossip’.
“If you have cash, you can take Fiorentina away. Our owner, Rocco Commisso, said he can finance everything himself. Did anyone show up? No, nobody,” Barone said, according to Firenzeviola.it.
“There’s a journalist who is now saying that a fund wants to buy Fiorentina and some Florentines have started saying that finally an owner will arrive who is ready to spend on the market, but the stadium is still the same and we built the sports centre.
“Nobody told us they wanted to buy the club and this is news that comes before an important match. Every time there’s an important game, this gossip comes. I say enough with these things. It’s useless to talk about this chatter because we are not a fund, we have a lot of passion, we are in love with the city, with the fans and above all, there’s a face.
“Before each match, who is there to assist the team? Joe Barone and Giuseppe Commisso, and when we lose, we show up under the curva.
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“When we were in a crisis, all the Florentine journalists were ready to kill the club, but we made ourselves seen. We are here to build, not to destroy.
“Then you can win, and you can lose. We are not happy with the results either. I’m sorry, there’s too much talk from reporters. There are journalists who said that we had three forwards and none of them was even a good one.
“Now, we have one of the best forwards in the world. Now, in the world it’s like it’s black Friday. Find someone who buys Fiorentina then.”