AC Milan is the latest in a long line of European football targets picked out by Chinese investors – and it won’t be the last.
On the football pitch, the Italians are known for a slow, tactical style that, while effective, can bore an opponent into submission.
Off the pitch, it may also be a similar story.
Rumors about a Chinese bid for AC Milan have been dragging on for over a year with flexible deadlines passing without incident.
While Chinese and Italian tabloids have delighted in quoting each other’s speculation – as if that somehow gives their respective reports more credibility – a veritable laundry list of Chinese entrepreneurs has been dredged up in a quest to put a name to the now common “mysterious Chinese consortium”.