Taci: ‘Parma debts were €240m’

By Football Italia staff

Albanian businessman Rezart Taci says Parma had debts of €240m when be bought them, not the claimed €70m.

The Ducali went bankrupt at the end of the 2014-15 season, and are currently working their way back through the divisions.

Tommaso Ghirardi was President of the club, but walked away at the beginning of the season, with Taci replacing him.

However, the Albanian then sold the Crociati again to Giampietro Manenti, who was later accused of money laundering.

“The idea [to buy the club] came from an Italian lawyer,” Taci explained to LodiFanfulla.

“I took the documentation, evaluated it, and said yes to the initiative. I therefore agreed to buy the club, but only under certain conditions.

“The main one was that the company didn’t have more than €78m of debt. In fact, after two weeks of management, we discovered that the debts were €240m, plus another €50m to be added over the next three or four months of activity.

“So Parma were bottom of the table, with €265m in debts, other legal problems and over 100 players who were to be paid.

“I decided to sell because we realised there were not the conditions to continue with this club. The only thing to do was to denounce the former owners and take the books to the appropriate institutions, but we decided not to hurt the old ownership.

“We chose the easy option, to sell the club again.

“Ghirardi blamed me for the bankruptcy? Well I don’t know how I could have racked up €260m in debt and signed 100 players in two weeks…”

Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just £9.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow