Anyone else getting a queasy feeling in the pit of their stomach about new Inter Milan owner Eric Thohir? I just get the feeling that Thohir will not/does not have, the cash necessary for Inter to compete with the big clubs in Italy and Europe.
The latest quotes from Thohir that gave me pause are these from an interview Wednesday with La Gazzetta dello Sport:
“If you ask me if I’m going to buy new players, my answer is always the same,” Thohir said.
“Our decisions will be taken together, but with one eye on the budget. There would be no unilateral decision on my part, that’s what’s different from the past.
“We will buy players, but we’re going to be careful with our spending. Our objective is financial restructuring, creating a club which is in sound financial health, as agreed with Moratti.”
As for the prospects of a new stadium Thohir added:
“One day we will have our own new stadium, but at this point we can’t say if we’re going to build one.”
I understand that under Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules that it is extremely difficult for an owner to come in and spend hundreds of millions of euros on new players like what happened at Manchester City and PSG. But Inter desperately needs an investment in the playing side to try and bridge the gap with Juventus, Roma and Napoli.
As for the new stadium, I have written many times that owning its own stadium is an necessity for Inter. It has done wonders for Juve’s bottom line and I don’t understand why Thohir is not pushing ahead with it unless he does not have the money to fund its building.
The media points out that Thohir understands sports due to his previous investments in Major League Soccer club DC United and the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team. Keep in mind the D.C. United have the fourth lowest payroll in MLS while the 76ers have the lowest payroll in the NBA.
There is nothing in Thohir’s background to indicate that Inter will be any different and that has to terrify Nerazzurri fans.
