Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has made an extraordinary claim that both AS Roma and Liverpool F.C have the same owners, which would be illegal under UEFA rules.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, De Laurentiis said:
I’ve always suspected that the real owner of Liverpool is also that of Rome. A little bird whispered it in my ear a few years ago. And if that is true, with a shared ownership they could not both compete in the Champions League.
De Laurentiis was speaking about the issue after Liverpool paid a then world record fee to sign Alisson Becker from Roma, a player who he wanted to take to Naples.
The Napoli President said:
I had offered €60m for [Alisson] and they didn’t want to give him to us. But then I understood that he would go to Liverpool.
American businessman James Pallotta, who owns Roma, also has shares in the NBA side the Boston Celtics, while Liverpool owners, FSG, own the MLB’s Boston Red Sox, so whilst there might be a friendship between the owners of both clubs, there is no conflict of interest in terms of both clubs having the same ownership.
