Massimo Cellino made a good profit from the sale of Leeds United to Andrea Radrizzani.
A chaotic era was over, but was inherited by the club Italian club.
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Massimo Cellino’s three years as owner were among the most chaotic periods English football has ever experienced – whether it was frequent manager changes, bans from the Football League, fan protests or his introduction of David Hockaday to Leeds supporters. (who led the club in six games)
Cellino’s profit uncovered
“If you survive working with me, you can survive anything,” Cellino told the club’s fans knowingly as he left West Yorkshire. The former maize magnate then went back to Italy, where he bought Brescia and immediately began to make a name for himself – by sacking managers from day one.
Now details of the sale of Leeds to Radrizzani have come to light.
The accounts show that Radrizzani bought the club for £45 million, giving Cellino a profit of £3.5 million from when he bought the club in 2014.
A more thorough review of the accounts also reveals that Cellino is set to receive a further £8.5 million over the next eight years, with payments starting in August this year. This means that the final price could be £53.5 million.
The Brescia Acquisition
The ESL accounts also shed light on Cellino’s acquisition of Brescia. He paid £100,000 but also had to take on debts of £8 million. An additional £1.2 million bonus on promotion to Serie A.
Brescia to close down after 114 years – Balotelli’s former club declared bankrupt
The Italian football club Brescia, with a full 23 seasons in Serie A on its chest, is now history. The club from Lombardy has collapsed financially after owner Massimo Cellino refused to pay a debt of around 35 million kroner.
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From Serie A to bankruptcy
Brescia disappeared from the top division for the last time in 2020, with Mario Balotelli in the team. Since then, the club has played in Serie B, but now the fairytale is over for good.
The verdict was handed down when Cellino failed to pay 3 million euros in back taxes before the deadline on Friday. This dispayment was the final nail in the coffin for the club, which was already deducted four points earlier in the season and relegated to Serie C due to financial mess.
The Italian businessman is known from English football, where he owned Leeds United from 2014 to 2017. The same year he sold Leeds, he seized the opportunity to take over Brescia – with disastrous consequences.
Now the Italian Football Federation is faced with a problem: What happens to all the Brescia players? And who will take over the iconic Stadio Mario Rigamonti?
