Rizzetta returns with €1.3bn bid and a multi-sport plan for Naples

The US-led group has reopened talks and now pitches basketball, volleyball and a rebuilt Mario Argento arena. Price is no longer the only gap: De Laurentiis wants to keep making decisions.

by Rosaria CimminoFriday 23 October, 14:09 CET· 3 hours ago

Rizzetta torna con 1,3 miliardi e un piano da polisportiva, ma De Laurentiis non vuole un ruolo simbolico — Grafica Arena Napoli

Matt Rizzetta's group has reopened contacts to buy Napoli. The proposal has been revised, but the figure is still €1.3bn.

Price is no longer the only obstacle. Aurelio De Laurentiis will not go below a valuation of €2bn. He also wants to keep an operational, decision-making role at the club under new owners. He has been offered a purely symbolic position before, and he does not accept it.

We have already covered the meeting at the Hotel de Bonart and the gap between €1.3bn and €2bn. What is new is that the American group has not walked away. It is now also setting out what it would build in the city beyond football.

The project: a multi-sport club for Naples

Financial backers including Ariel Investment and Apollo Sport Capital are part of the plan, and the idea goes beyond football. It includes developing men's and women's basketball, new investment in volleyball, and a look at water polo and rugby. At its centre is the rebuilding of the Mario Argento indoor arena.

It reads like a project written more for the city than for the president. It offers Naples something it does not have now. The financial offer, however, remains a long way from what the seller is asking.

On Thursday 22 October De Laurentiis told a radio station: "Napoli is not for sale, I turned down three and a half billion." Of Rizzetta he added: "I would sell it to a Neapolitan, not to an American." A few hours later he was sitting at the same table with him.

"Napoli is not for sale, I turned down three and a half billion."

Now there is the condition about his role, which in our view says more than the numbers. Someone who sells but insists on still making the decisions is not handing over a club. He is looking for a partner who pays without being in charge. It is hard to see which investor puts between €1.3bn and €2bn on the table only to leave the decisions to the previous owner.

The consortium has not made everything clear either. A plan as broad as a multi-sport club says a lot about what it wants to do in Naples, but little about the timing and how it would pay for the football club. The negotiation described by the owner's lawyer, Franco Gianni, had stalled on exactly that: timing and payment terms.

Meanwhile, on the pitch

The team is ninth with 10 points after seven matches, nine points off the top, with three defeats already. The front pages on Thursday and Friday were mostly about ownership, while the club has tied Allegri's position to two tests. The first, against Bodø/Glimt, was passed, though not comfortably. The second is Roma.

Whoever buys Napoli will also face the stadium question. Talks with Q8 over the former refinery site at San Giovanni a Teduccio are expected to close by December. A rebuilt indoor arena is no substitute for a home for the football team.

Roma, third on 17 points, come to the Maradona on Saturday 24 October at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET). Nobody will be talking about billions there. It is Allegri's second test.