MILAN (Reuters) - The Chinese owner of Italian soccer club AC Milan said on Tuesday his finances were sound and called recent press reports about financial difficulties irresponsible.
“We do not understand the purpose of these rumours but they have reached the point of seriously damaging the club, my companies and my family,” the club’s Chinese president Li Yonghong said in a statement on the Club’s webpage.
On Monday Italian daily Corriere della Sera said a holding company controlled by Li had gone bankrupt, adding a Chinese court had put some of its assets under disposal to repay creditor banks.
“The situation regarding all my personal resources is totally sound and both the Club and my companies are working normally,” he said.
Li headed the Luxembourg-based Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux which last April bought AC Milan from former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for 740 million euros ($914 million).
($1 = 0.8100 euros)
Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Francesca Landini