The Malta Independent on Sunday
Roma’s US president James Pallotta issues stadium ultimatum
Football
AC MILAN’S SPENDING
Pallotta is finding it difficult to fathom how rival AC Milan has spent more than €200 million - the most in Europe - this transfer campaign.
UEFA put a “Financial Fair Play” investigation into Milan’s books on hold until October.
“I’m so upset at UEFA. It’s a joke,” Pallotta said. “It’s crazy. It makes no sense. They don’t have the money.”
US private equity fund Elliott provided backing to the Chineseled consortium that purchased Milan from Silvio Berlusconi for $800 million in April.
“(Elliott CEO Paul Singer) is a friend of mine,” Pallotta said. “They’re going to own the team. They have the debt.”
Milan CEO Marco Fassone said he was “stunned” by Pallotta’s comments, and offered to compare finances with the Boston executive on his next visit to Italy.
“We put out a €50 million bond that is completely dedicated to this summer’s campaign and we have plenty of room left to use on the bond,” Fassone said in a video posted on Milan’s website.
“Furthermore, we have multiyear plans which we have presented to the board of directors involving elements of total transparency,” Fassone added.
Fassone clarified that the Elliott fund provided €180 million of the €740 million of the club’s value.
“I apologise if I have some incorrect information,” Pallotta then said in a statement on Roma’s website. “I care a lot about Italian football returning to the top and in that respect, I expect that all the clubs can contribute to a stronger and more sustainable league, like we are doing at AS Roma.
“I wish AC Milan and its new owners all the best and look forward to their management and new owners working with all of us to be a key part of Serie A’s growth,” Pallotta added.
5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Next month will mark five years since Pallotta became Roma’s president.
A hedge-fund manager with the Raptor Group, Pallotta had no previous experience in football.
“I wish I knew the sport back then as well as I do now,” he said. “And I wish I knew a lot of the characters and the players - both good and bad - in the game. There’s just a lot of things to learn and navigate.”
After a sixth-place finish in his first season in charge, Roma has become a perennial challenger for the Serie A title, placing no worse than third each of the past four seasons.
“The first couple of years I ended up spending so much time with the financial side of it and cleaning it up and dealing with the banks,” Pallotta said. “I inherited a bunch of things that have taken some time to clean up and I feel like we’re now in the right spot for a lot of things.”
BUY LOW, SELL HIGH
Pallotta gushes with enthusiasm over the club’s new sports director, Monchi.
After enabling Spanish club Sevilla to punch above its weight and win 11 trophies during his tenure there, Monchi joined Roma in April.
Pallotta singled out the manner in which Monchi selects players who fit the squad’s style of play - recruiting defenders who can pass well and feed speedy wingers to set up centre forward Edin Dzeko, who led the Italian league with 29 goals last season.
“It’s just a completely different animal from what I’ve seen before,” Pallotta said.
“When he was at Seville he knew that for 15 years he had to make up revenue or losses because they didn’t have enough revenue,” Pallotta added. “So he became really, really good at identifying players - young players - that he didn’t have to pay a lot of money for and created a lot of value with.”
Pallotta said it reminded him of how when he traded stocks as a hedge-fund manager, “I tried to buy low and sell high.”
TRANSFER BARGAINS
Pallotta called the purchase of defender Aleksandar Kolarov from Manchester City for €5 million “a steal.”
While Roma has been criticised for allowing starters like Antonio Rudiger and Mohamed Salah to depart to the English Premier League - to Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively - the club is slated to take in up to €80 million in transfer fees for the duo.
Other acquisitions have included veteran Mexico center back Hector Moreno from PSV Eindhoven for €5.7 million, 22year-old right back Rick Karsdorp from Feyenoord for €14 million and defensive midfielder Maxime Gonalons from Lyon for €5 million.
“I think (Gonalons) will be the big surprise for what we paid for him,” Pallotta said. “I think we have as strong a midfield as we’ve had.”
While many Roma fans don’t seem too enthusiastic over a transfer campaign centered on several players many of them have never heard of, that’s all part of Monchi’s plan.
“That’s what he does really well. He has a huge network and the guy works relentlessly,” Pallotta said. “I don’t know if he sleeps, which I like because I don’t sleep.”
TOTTI’S ROLE
Recently retired Roma captain Francesco Totti has an open invitation from Pallotta to take on a management role within the club.
Totti hasn’t decided yet which area he wants to work in.
“He needs some time to think. We’ve had a lot of conversations,” Pallotta said. “We’re pretty open to helping him and working with him for the benefit of both him and the team.”
HANDLING THE MEDIA
As a minority owner of the Boston Celtics, Pallotta knows what it means to deal with a highpressure media market.
But the attention on Roma and the way the media allegedly manipulates stories “is way, way beyond anything in the US,” he said.
“It took me a long time to wake up and not read the papers. I don’t even pick them up anymore,” Pallotta said. “Every other day there’s one article or something that I want to jump out the window at. The (stuff) that they’re saying is just wrong.”
Luciano Spalletti, who recently moved to Inter Milan after his second stint as Roma’s coach, often let the media get to him.
“Luciano used to over-think it. I would go in his office and say, ‘Luciano, how are you today?’ And then I would walk out and he would ask somebody, ‘What do you think he meant by that?’“Pallotta said.
“I loved the guy but the media could drive him crazy,” Pallotta added. “He would just fight them.”
Pallotta believes Monchi and new Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco have the right demeanors to deal with the attention.
“(Di Francesco) played there, he was well liked, they know him. And sometimes when you get a new coach you have some of the media sniping, ‘Bad choice, bad choice.’ But everybody thought it was good,” Pallotta said. “I was shocked.”