The Sale of Milan is becoming a Nightmare

The Milan sale saga has been an absolute nightmare for Milanisti. The sale of this club (which resembles the storyline of a telenovella rather than a financial takeover) has put Milan fans through the proverbial wringer, and has managed to take us all on a two year roller coaster ride that has crushed their belief and spirit at every plummeting drop and stomach-churning twist.

It all started last summer when Mr. Bee showed up onto the scene and claimed he had the necessary investors to purchase 48% of Milan. Soon after the Thai businessman revealed himself, Milan and Mr. Bee entered into an exclusive period of negotiations. During this time, incredibly reliable news outlets like Sky and La Gazzetta Dello Sport attached their name to the story, and reports emerged that Milan and Mr. Bee were close to an agreement. Some outlets poked holes in the story, pointing out Mr. Bee's lack of profile, the out of whack value of Bee's offer, and the fact that he was willing to invest hundreds of millions of euros to own a non-controlling stake and nothing more.

What were fans to do except believe what the 'reliable' outlets were reporting and hope for the best? It's easy to now point out how naive it was to 'Bee-lieve', but with fans desperate for a change, and some major outlets confirming the story, most Milanisti were on strings,and who could really blame them? After all they were just listening to what the 'credible' outlets were saying. Then all of a sudden, after all the photo ops with Berlusconi, and all the reports saying a deal was "'imminent' were published, Bee disappeared and the frustration felt by Milanisti hit a fever pitch.

Once again the fans were back to square one. The team was having another horrific season on the field, and the club was still owned by an individual who looked content to let the club wallow in mediocrity. Then, at the tail end of the season emerged 'The Chinese' . Once again Milan entered into a period of exclusive negotiations with investors, but this time there were some key differences that made the negotiations appear much more legitimate. First of all, the presence of renowned sports business broker Sal Galatioto (who brokered the sale of the NBA's Golden State Warriors among other notable teams) was a huge boon to the credibility of these anonymous investors. In addition, this group was negotiating for the majority of the club, and their valuation of that majority share was much more realistic than Bee's ridiculous valuation of 48% of the club.

Once again, well respected sources such as Sky, GDS, Forbes, and Reuters all confirmed the seriousness of these negotiations and claimed that the signing of a preliminary agreement was imminent. Then came the delays. The preliminary agreement was originally to be signed June 15th, and since then the signing of the preliminary agreement has been pushed back no less than 4 times, with the latest delay pushing the signing from the 12th of July back to the 19th or 25th of the month.

Each and every time this deal is delayed the frustration of the fan base is felt. What are Milanisti supposed to do other than sit by an wait idly? We've seen over the course of 2 years that no media outlets have a clue what is going on, but because fans are so desperate for this sale to conclude they live and die with every single new report.

As awful as it is to admit it, and as much as fans do not want to hear it, there is only one thing for them to do, and that is to wait until the deal either is resolved one way or the other. Sooner or later we will know the truth behind this sale. Even though it took us a while to figure out what the deal was with Mr. Bee, we eventually found out that the guy was one huge phoney.  If this group is legitimate and Berlusconi is finally serious about selling this club, the club will get sold; and if this is another Mr. Bee scheme we will eventually know.

As much as it's terrible to hear, Milan fans just need to wait. Take each report with a grain of salt and remember how most turned out to be wrong about Bee, and just sit tight until this deal either happens or it doesn't.  It's not the most fun thing to do, but having patience is about the only thing to do.