NANJING - Inter CEO Michael Bolingbroke spoke to Inter Channel after this morning's press conference in Nanjing.
"The rumours in the press are incredible. We talked to Suning about that and they were very particular that they wanted everybody to stay, so on the corporate side, the football side and the commercial side, the team will stay the same.
“It’s a big step for Inter, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a very interesting time for our club to be taken over by a Chinese company because in China football is at a very interesting point. Firstly there are big ambitions in China related to football. The president of China wants football to be a major point of focus for their country and they want to host and win a World Cup. They want Academies throughout the country, and there’s a big focus on healthcare here as well, but they need expertise and technical experience. They see partnering with Inter as a very important way to do that.
“We as a club should be very proud that out of all the clubs that could have been chosen in Europe, we’re the club that’s been chosen to partner with them. For Inter, I think Suning offer a couple of very important things. The first thing is they offer resources for us as a club. Suning want to invest in the club and their investment is not about this season or even next season, it’s a much more long-term programme. They want to invest in our first-team training centre, the Pinetina. They want to invest in Interello and our youth setup. Immediately they are going to give a very big cash injection to the club, which will be of great help for the club. Both now and in the future there will be investment, but it’s being seen as a five- to ten-year programme.
“The other area that Suning will help us greatly in is access to the Chinese market. That will help us globally and we'll be able to benefit from that and invest in the team. The investment will result in access to China through Suning themselves. They have 4200 stores. In a country with over 1.3 billion people they have 20% of the market and it gives us access to touch the 135 million fans in China and the 190 million fans in Asia. That will release resources that we can invest in the club.
"I think Suning will be a very good partner for us and they're very excited and very ambitious. Our target for next year is to make sure we finish the championship with a Champions League spot – so either to win the Scudetto, come second or come third. That's our main goal. Our second goal is to win the Europa League so we'll be looking to go as far as we can.
"We're ambitious and they share the ambitions we want to achieve. I think with Suning we've got as good a chance as any of doing that and they'll be very good partners for us.
"I'd like to say one other thing. I'm a football fan, my family are football fans and I know that for football fans the most important thing about a love for a club is its heritage. Because often it was your father or your father's father that supported the club and it goes down through the generations. As we globalise and the football industry globalises many new fans will come in because they can watch it digitally and terrestrially.
"Football clubs no longer seem local because they have fans all around the world but a football club is local and can never stop being local. I'd just like to reassure everyone who is listening now that I understand that. I understand the concerns of anyone who is worried about the legacy and the passion that it really means to be an Interista. I will make sure that's protected and looked after.
"Honestly I think the team we have at the moment is already very good. We got 67 points this season compared to 55 last season. We conceded far fewer goals and we came fourth as opposed to eighth. So we did really well this season. Admittedly, we didn't get to where we wanted because we all wanted to win the championship and get into the Champions League but we did do really well and we should be proud of that. We have a great squad.
"There may be some changes in the transfer window. I'll talk to Roberto Mancini throughout the window and we'll try to pick up the right players for Inter but I do think the squad we've got is already good. Of course we can't exclude UEFA and Financial Fair Play but we have to make sure we have the right squad to achieve the ambitions we want."
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