[Jack Sparrow]

Just some tidbits that popped up on Football-Italia.

Reports say Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to sell Milan to a Chinese group of investors for €700m.

Tuttosport writes today that Berlusconi has accepted the offer to sell the Rossoneri after a long and intense series of negotiations.

The talks were concluded at a law firm in Rome according to the newspaper, who believe that a preliminary agreement will be signed between Friday and Monday.

There were reports this morning that Jack Ma is leading the Chinese group, but the official identity of the investors is still unknown.

Tuttosport believes that Robin Li, the sixth most powerful man in China according to Forbes, is also a possible investor.

The group will take over 100 per cent of the club’s shares, an initial 70 per cent and then the further 30 per cent over the course of a year.

The Chinese bidders put between €700-720m on the table to buy the San Siro giants, says the report.

The phase of due diligence, where the club’s accounts are analysed, was completed last week according to the paper.

Jack Ma, China’s richest man, is reportedly leading the group interested in Milan and he wants to build a new stadium.

La Repubblica reports today that Ma, founder of the Alibaba group and co-owner of Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande, is heading the group that are in talks to take over the Rossoneri.

The investors from Peking should get a reply from President Silvio Berlusconi before the end of the week about whether they can enter exclusive negotiations.

If they get the go-ahead, the analysis of Milan’s accounts will begin which could be concluded quite quickly.

Therefore the outlet writes that if everything goes smoothly, a deal could be signed off by mid-June.

One of Ma’s first projects would be to build a new stadium owned by the club, says the report.

Another change that could take place would be the insertion of former Guangzhou Coach Marcello Lippi as technical director, according to the newspaper.

Ma’s Alibaba group includes Taobao (the Chinese Ebay), Aliplay (an electronic payment system), Weibo (the Chinese Twitter) and Alibaba pictures ($3m of investment in the film industry.)

According to Forbes magazine he has an estimated net worth of $24.1 billion and is the 18th richest person in the world.

Milan’s holding company Fininvest has reportedly denied that Silvio Berlusconi has sold the club for €700m.

Reports emerged today that the Rossoneri owner had agreed to sell the club to a group of Chinese investors, possibly led by billionaire Jack Ma.

However, Milan News has reported that they have received a communication from Fininvest denying the rumours that a sale had taken place.

Pier Silvio Berlusconi, son of the Diavolo chief, has also denied any knowledge of a sale taking place today.

More than the takeover going through, I'm interested to see who they bring in as staff. I would be really interested to see how this works out.