Raheem Sterling is on Milan’s summer wishlist as talks continue over a $1.1bn Bahraini takeover of the Italian club.
The Bahrain Embassy in London has confirmed that Investcorp, the Bahraini investment fund which is also backed by Abu Dhabi money, is in exclusive negotiations to buy the Serie A leaders. The seven-time Champions League winners would become the first Italian club to have majority ownership from the Gulf with Bahrain following Saudi Arabia ( Newcastle ), Qatar (Paris-Saint Germain) and Abu Dhabi ( Manchester City ) in making a high-profile investment in football.
The takeover is set to see the Serie A leaders given a €300m summer spending budget - and Milan are already drawing up potential targets to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe. Liverpool reserve striker Divock Origi was already wanted by the Italian giants on a free transfer this summer.
But the new investment will allow Milan to target more players from Europe’s top clubs - and Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Sterling is set to be tempted to resurrect his career in Serie A along with the lure of Champions League football. The England star, who is out of contract in the summer of 2023, made a rare Premier League start in the 2-2 with Liverpool but is frustrated with his lack of game time at the champions.
Milan are also interested in signing Marco Asensio and Isco as well as Ajax’s former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller, and Christopher Nkunku of RB Leipzig. Corriere dello Sport reported last week that Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, whose chief executive is Manchester City chairman Khaldun Al-Mubarak, is one of the main shareholders of Investcorp. This would allow Abu Dhabi to invest in Italian football without contravening dual ownership rules.
A tweet from the Bahraini Embassy in London said: “The investment fund Investcorp has entered into exclusive negotiations for the purchase of AC Milan for $1.1bn. Investcorp was founded in 1982 and has a portfolio of global diversified investments worth $42bn.”
Former Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis took over the day-to-day running of Milan in 2018.
The club formerly owned by Silvio Berlusconi was taken over by US investment fund Elliott Management Corporation in 2018 after the previous Chinese owners failed to keep up loan payments.
