Inter to get satellite clubs?

By Football Italia staff

Inter could reportedly have satellite clubs in Portugal and Belgium, as Suning Group expands its football operation.

The Chinese group bought the Nerazzurri in 2016, and have already invested heavily in the playing squad.

Now Gazzetta dello Sport believes that Suning is following the Manchester City model, and will have satellite clubs much like New York City FC and Melbourne City FC.

The newspaper believes that Suning Group is looking into acquiring Portuguese side Gil Vicente, and are in fact very close to a takeover.

In addition, Belgian club Mouscron could be bought over by the Chinese investors, with Peter Kenyon potentially coming on board as a “global consultant”.

These acquisitions would not directly affect Inter, but would expand Suning’s network beyond the Nerazzurri and Jiangsu Suning.

In practice, it would mean that youth prospects from the Beneamata could be sent to Portugal or Belgium to develop, while promising players from either side could move to San Siro.

Red Bull has adopted a similar approach with their clubs Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, with no less than five players moving from Austria to Germany in the last two transfer windows.

In addition, Leipzig have sent Israeli forward Omer Damari on loan to both Salzburg and New York Red Bulls in the past.

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