Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo and other investors have had an offer accepted by the Bologna FC Board of Directors to buy the historic Italian club, Saputo confirmed in a statement on Thursday.
“I am pleased to confirm that the offer made by our group of investors to acquire Bologna FC has been accepted by the club’s Board of Directors,” Saputo said. “A letter of intent has been signed by the club to that effect. I would like to thank all the people involved in the transaction, especially the loyal supporters of Bologna FC for their encouragement throughout the process. We will continue to work with the Board of Directors to finalize the agreement on October 15."
According to a report in Gazzetta Dello Sport, the group of investors led by New York-based lawyer Joe Tacopina has promised a payment of roughly $8 million over three years, a $7.6 million investment into the club by October 15 and a further $8.9 million provided to the club.
Saputo traveled to Italy two weeks ago to work on the deal, which seemed dead by Sept. 25, when reports that the board had accepted businessman Massimo Zanetti’s proposal instead surfaced. Through the club website, Bologna president Albano Guaradi stated, only two days ago, that negotiations were going smoothly with Zanetti and that he’d had no contact whatsoever with Saputo recently.
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Saputo has developed a relationship with Bologna FC over the years. Montreal’s first-ever Designated Player, Marco Di Vaio, signed from Bologna in the summer of 2012. Rumors have long linked Di Vaio with a return to Bologna in an administrative role at his end of his career, after the 2014 MLS season.
Throughout the negotiations, Saputo has insisted that they were personal business matters and as such not linked to the Montreal Impact. He will thus not speak to the media other than through Thursday's statement, a club spokesperson told MLSsoccer.com.
