October 19, 2022
The brief from today:
Higuain discusses future plans
Argentinian striker, Gonzalo Higuain, recently announced he would be retiring at the end of the current MLS season, and that moment has now arrived. The match between his current side, Inter Miami FC, against NYFC in the first round of the MLS playoffs, would be his final match after a 3-0 loss ended Higuain and his team’s season. El Pipita, as he is affectionately known, can look back with pride at a career that took him from River Plate in his native Argentina, to the the likes of: Real Madrid, Napoli, Juventus, AC Milan, and Chelsea in Europe, before concluding his playing days in the US with Inter Miami. Throughout that period he would go on to amass an impressive 335 goals in 711 appearances at club level, while his record for his national team stands at 31 goals in 75 caps. The fascinating thing now is what the prolific marksman intends to do following his playing career. Higuain spoke to the media after the loss to NYFC, and he said, “I would love to study and become a mental coach. Being well psychologically I think is a very important aspect in any profession ... I would very much like to study this matter. In football it is fundamental and still has too little resonance as a topic.” This is powerful from Higuain both as a statement, as well as a initiative he wishes to undertake. As he accurately described, the subject of mental health in football is an issue that needs far more attention and consideration than it currently receives, and for someone with his platform to shine a light on that is highly commendable.
Inter bring in Raine Group
Inter Milan’s ownership, Suning Holdings Group, has been struggling with financial losses since COVID impacted their China based businesses. As a result, the club brought in Goldman Sachs last month to do the following: assess the debt, options to alleviate it, and potential buyers of the team. Despite denials from the club that a sale was being considered, the investment bank’s presence made their statements dubious. To make matters more questionable, Inter have now also brought in Raine Group to assist Goldman Sachs on the aforementioned mandate. Earlier this year, Raine Group was responsible for performing due diligence on the various bids being submitted to buy Chelsea after longtime owner, Roman Abramovic, was forced to sell the club. The recruitment of Raine by the 2021 Italian champions will do little to quiet all the rumors of an imminent sale, with reports now filtering out of potential bidders. Two NBA team owners in: Marc Lasry of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Vivek Randive from the Sacramento Kings are said to be weighing up a move. In addition to them, Bahrain investment fund, Investcorp, who tried to buy Inter’s city rivals AC Milan earlier this year, are also said to be interested. Finally, Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss-Italian businessman who owns pharmaceutical company, Serono, and was once the CEO of Swiss bank, UBS, is considering joining the fray. Inter currently sit seventh in the Serie A table after a mediocre start to the season, and the impact of an uncertain ownership situation could potentially further affect the form of the team going forward.
Inter chairman, Steven Zhang (above), surely has a lot on his mind dealing with Inter’s debt