The deal to sell top-flight Italian team Milan to a consortium of Chinese investors will be completed at the beginning of December or even earlier, two sources told Reuters yesterday.

In August former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed a preliminary agreement valuing the club at €740 million, including €220 million of debt.

The deadline for completing the deal had been originally set for the end of this year.

One of the sources said the deadline was now Dec. 3 but added the deal could be wrapped up as early as Nov. 23.

The second source said completion would be the end of this month or the start of December as Berlusconi’s holding company Fininvest has already cashed in €100m.

A selection process of the Chinese investors interested in buying into Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing, the vehicle that will buy Milan, is under way, one of the sources said.

Besides Haixia Capital and Yonghong Li, chairman of the vehicle, there will be two or three other investors, the source said.

“What they’re trying to avoid is an overly fragmented shareholding structure,” the source said.