Suning: Inter will spend
By Football Italia staff
Suning Group has vowed that it “wants to strengthen” Inter after confirmation of FFP compliance – and hinted players from China could head to the club.
Steven Zhang – son of Suning owner Zhang Jindong – was speaking after Friday’s shareholders’ meeting, where CEO Michael Bolingbroke confirmed Inter had complied with Financial Fair Play.
“We’ve realised that there’s a whole world around Inter,” he told FCInterNews.
“This management is doing well, with good leadership. The papers have written things that are untrue, we don’t want to change anything.
“We want to strengthen the team, we’re always in contact with our men in Milan. Even from a distance, we’re close.”
Prior to Zhang’s comments, Bolingbroke explained: “In 2013-14, revenues were 168m, in 2014-15 they were 171 and now they are 186, obviously excluding sales of players and participation in European tournaments. Now, we’re hoping to exceed 200m.
“Operating profit in 2014 was negative, the year after we broke even and then we were in the green by 10m.
“For the next financial year, we expect to double that. This year, our losses are 59m, and for next year we have to get to -24m.
“We passed Financial Fair Play tests, which require -30m. Next year, we’ll have a break-even requirement in the budget and it’ll be very difficult.”
Concluding the meeting was Suning’s Vice-CEO Yang Yang, who mentioned the possibility of players swapping China for Italy.
“I’m no expert on the sporting side, but it’s good to have two big clubs like Inter and Jiangsu and there may be synergies,” he suggested.
“There are players who can go from China to Inter. The January market? We’ll do everything possible to support Inter off the pitch, while taking care of FFP.”
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