Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus confirms he ‘would definitely be interested’ in purchasing Inter if Steven Zhang and Suning are prepared to sell, but again criticises Manchester United after a bid was ignored.
The former Nokia executive was named by news agency Reuters as being one of the main candidates vying for a takeover of Serie A giants Inter and he spoke exclusively to Ivan Vanoni of Inter-News.it about the rumours.
“I announced publicly that I wanted to invest in Italian football. I love Italian football, it’s the best in the world. I have a home in Italy, in Como, and I live more than half the year there,” said Zilliacus.
“I already made an offer for Manchester United in England in March, but I doubt anything will happen, they won’t sell.”
He attended the Champions League semi-final between Inter and Milan at San Siro and tweeted his presence.
When someone asked whether he was going to buy Inter, he replied with criticism of the Glazer family that has made the Manchester United sale so complicated.
“At least here there is one dedicated seller, not six siblings who can’t agree!”
However, Suning seem to be by no means convinced of the idea of selling Inter either, hoping to keep hold of at least a majority share of the club, even with the €275m loan from Oaktree Capital set to be repaid in 2024.
“With regards to Inter, I have great respect for what Steven Zhang has done. He’s done great work in the last seven years and considering he was so young when he took over at Inter, he’s done a fantastic job.
“If he wants to sell, then yes, we would certainly be interested. I don’t want to say more now, I have great respect for him and his work, so I don’t want to disturb that, especially now when the club is concentrating on the Champions League Final. I don’t want to create unnecessary distraction.
“As I said, if he wants to sell, we would certainly be interested.”
Zilliacus was impressed by what he saw at San Siro in the Champions League semi-final against Milan and admires coach Simone Inzaghi’s approach.
“Tactically they are really smart, the coach did so well to neutralise Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud. When I saw Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku together, they too impressed me. I think they’ve got a good chance in the Final.
“If they can neutralise the Manchester City attack, then Inter score and defend well, they can do it. My prediction is a 2-1 win for Inter.”