A lack of trust might be one of the biggest issues Andrea Radrizzani faces moving forward at Leeds United now. That’s according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, following reports that the owner and chairman offered to use Leeds’ home stadium Elland Road as collateral in his bid to purchase Serie A club Sampdoria.
The Athletic, who broke the news this morning, claim a heads of terms agreement was signed by Radrizzani, which would see Elland Road used in order to secure a loan of £25.8m from Italian bank Banca Sistema. That money would then be put towards Radrizzani and Gestio Capital’s takeover of Sampdoria.
There are no filings at Companies House to suggest such a move went through, and, as reported by Leeds Live, board members Paraag Marathe and Angus Kinnear were previously unaware of such proposals before being approached for comment by The Athletic on Wednesday night. As 49ers Enterprises own 29 per cent of Elland Road Limited, the company which owns the stadium, by rights they should have been informed, while Kinnear is also registered as a director.
