Scaroni: ‘Milan were seconds away’ from bankruptcy under Yonghong Li | OneFootball

Milan President Paolo Scaroni revealed new details about his how ‘nefarious’ the Yonghong Li era was for the club. ‘At the last second of the last minute, €5m arrived allowing us to register for the season.’

It is no secret the situation was dire, as Yonghong Li purchased the club from Silvio Berlusconi in April 2017 for €740m, but lasted only a year.

He was able to make the purchase only thanks to a high-interest loan from Elliott Management reaching €303m, which he then failed to repay a year later, losing control of the club.

Speaking at an event to announce 125th anniversary celebrations for AC Milan, current President Scaroni revealed just how bad things were.

“My story with Milan started in that nefarious era of Yonghong Li,” he told reporters and fans gathered at the presentation ceremony.

“I entered the Board of Directors representing Elliott and truly experienced a passionate year. There was a series of obligations to fulfil and our accounts were never in order.

“At the last second of the last minute, we received the €5m that allowed us to register for the new season.”

Every club in Italy must prove its financial stability before registering for the new campaign.

If they fail to do so and are not registered, the club is declared bankrupt and forced to start again from the semi-professional leagues.

It would appear that Milan were a lot closer to this shocking ending in 2018 than anyone knew.

Scaroni and Elliott had to rebuild Milan

“It was a terrible period when Elliott came in and asked me to become President. It was July 22, 2018 and I arrived at the board meeting where there were shareholders with long faces and few journalists.

“We were coming off five years without being in the Champions League, perhaps they were the darkest years for Milan. I know that the fans want everything, I would want that too, but we made a few steps forward and had the great excitement of the Scudetto.”

During the speech, Scaroni also took a smiling jab at local rivals Inter, who are celebrating their recent Scudetto triumph.

“We remain forever the big club of Milano, we know of no other…”