Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/678126
21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 11 MAY 2016 FOOTBALL BOXING Exclusive talks over AC Milan sale to start with Chinese consortium FORMER Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi opened exclusive talks on Tuesday with a group of Chinese investors about selling a majority stake in soccer club AC Milan, one of the media mogul's most cherished assets. Berlusconi's family holding com- pany Fininvest said it signed a memorandum with the Chinese consortium at a board meeting on Tuesday to "kick off in-depth nego- tiations." Fininvest gave no dead- line but a source close to the mat- ter told Reuters the talks would last one month and were non-binding. "The Chinese are valuing the club at up to 750 million euros ($854 million), including debt," the source said. Berlusconi, who has owned AC Milan for more than three decades, is looking to sell the club at one of the low points in its history that dates back to 1899. Second only to Real Madrid in the list of winners of Europe's top club competition, AC Milan has failed to win any major silverware in the past five years and is lying a lowly seventh in Italy's Serie A top divi- sion. The club, which reported a loss of 93.5 million euros last year, needs an injection of capital to fund its business and put it on a par with the top European clubs, many now bankrolled by Gulf and Asian owners. But a deal to sell AC Milan is still far from certain as the 79-year-old four-time prime minister remains reluctant to loosen his grip over the club he calls "my Milan". Last year, talks with Thai busi- nessman Bee Taechaubol to sell a majority stake foundered when Berlusconi changed his mind at the last minute, saying he did not want to sell more than 48 percent, a per- son who followed the talks said. "How many times have we been here. Fininvest wants to sell but every time we think we're there Berlusconi says No," said a top banker familiar with the matter. According to another source, Fininvest's talks with the Chinese consortium envisage an initial sale of 70 per cent. "The rest will be sold in the following 12 to 18 months," the source said. Berlusconi rescued AC Milan from dire financial straits in 1986 and has poured in millions of eu- ros, helping it to five European and eight Serie A titles since taking over. In a video-message published on his Facebook page on Friday, Ber- lusconi said he had invested more than one billion euros in the club, including 152 million this past sea- son. He acknowledged that it had played dreadfully but said he "liked to leave Milan in good hands... pref- erably Italian ones". Beijing is pushing hard to turn China into a soccer force by en- couraging investment both at home and abroad. Chinese investors agreed in De- cember to pay $400 million for a stake in the group that owns soccer clubs including England's Man- chester City and New York City FC, the country's most significant over- seas investment in the game. The consortium, led by China Media Capital (CMC) Holdings and CITIC Capital, took a stake of more than 13 percent in City Foot- ball Group. Chinese property group Dalian Wanda last year bought a 20 per- cent stake in Champions' League finalists Atletico Madrid. AC Milan's local rivals Inter are 70 percent owned by a group led by Indonesia's Erick Thohir. Silvio Berlusconi sits proudly with the trophies Milan won under his helm I am happy at Leicester - Vardy LEICESTER City striker Jamie Vardy has given the Premier League champions further en- couragement that he will stay with them next season by saying he is happy at the club. Vardy, who has scored 24 Pre- mier League goals this season and was named player of the year by the Football Writers' Association, has played a piv- otal role in taking his team from 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of the campaign to champions of England. "We've just won the league and will be playing in the Champi- ons League next year. I am hap- py here," the prolific striker told British media. England international Var- dy, 29, signed a contract with Leicester in February running through to June 2019. Leicester visit their manager Claudio Ranieri's former club Chelsea in their final game of the season on Sunday. Jamie Vardy Khan dismisses Brook clash THE 29-year-old impressed against WBC middleweight cham- pion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in Las Vegas on Saturday night until the heavy sixth-round knockout that ended his challenge ultimately exposed him as too small to com- pete at 155lbs, where that fight was made. He has already spoken of his de- sire to pursue his status as manda- tory challenger to WBC welter- weight champion Danny Garcia, who he lost to in 2012, but there remains a strong chance Garcia will be Floyd Mayweather's next opponent if the undefeated Amer- ican makes his expected return from retirement. IBF champion Brook has long sought a fight with the Olym- pic silver medallist, though even if Garcia remains out of Khan's reach he is adamant he will not consider Brook an option because of the extent to which he dislikes him. "I don't think that fight will hap- pen, I'll give that a miss," said Khan, speaking before Brook's claim it would no longer be safe for them to fight because of the nature of the defeat by Alvarez. "He's on his route, I'm on my route, and we just don't agree with each other. Basically, I don't like him and I'm not going to give him the fight. "(Brook's promoter) Eddie Hearn can keep saying that he's massive, he's this, he's that, he's a big name: he's not. "I respect him, he's got a world title, but I want to fight the biggest names. These are the last few years of my career, I want to maximise it and leave a great legacy behind. "I'd like to fight in England, but I'm thinking of bringing big names (like Miguel Cotto) here. That'd be amazing, wouldn't it? "Garcia definitely is top of the list, it's the easiest one to make, and it'd be a great fight for me, someone my own weight. "(Timothy Bradley) would be an amazing fight, (Manny) Pacquiao would be an amazing fight. For sure, (Pacquiao will fight again)." For all of his ambition, Khan also revealed his next three-to-four fights could be his last. His mother, Falak, has been ask- ing him to consider retirement for some time, and that will likely have contributed to his desire to secure another big fight in De- cember - when he plans to return - instead of selecting an easier op- ponent to rebuild against. "My mum wanted me to retire like a year ago," said Khan, who remains undefeated as a welter- weight. "These are probably the last few good years in me now, because otherwise they'll kick me out of the house or disown me or some- thing... it's hard for my family to see me get hurt. "I keep saying 'A couple more fights, a couple more fights'; I'll end up giving them a heart attack. "I don't want to end my career on a loss, I've still got some big fights left in me yet. Probably three or four. Financially, I've se- cured myself, I've done really well, but I don't want to leave the sport thinking 'I had more left in me', I want to enjoy the sport as much as I can. "I want to leave boxing, not for boxing to retire me. "I'll come back from this strong- er, I know I've got it in me to come back from being knocked out like that. My boxing skills are still there. "I can go straight back into an- other big fight; I just got caught with a big shot." Amir Khan has dismissed the possibility of fighting domestic rival Kell Brook, despite his plans to return to the welterweight division Amir Khan