Aldo Spinelli has rebuffed reports that he is interested in taking over Premier League side Senglea Athletic.

This week, Italian entrepreneur Spinelli was linked with a possible takeover of BOV Premier League side Senglea Athletic, with Italian newspaper La Repubblica suggesting that both parties were in advanced talks.

However, once contacted by the Times of Malta the owner of Serie C side Livorno denied the report.

“The stories about a potential takeover of the Maltese club Senglea Athletic do not contain any truth in them,” Spinelli said yesterday.

On his part, Rueben Debono who fulfills the role of vice-president at the Cottonera club, underlined the fact that if there are any ongoing negotiations between Spinelli and the president of Senglea, who is Italian, they would still be in their early stages.

“To be honest, I became aware of the news when it was revealed by the Italian media in the past week,” Debono said.

“In fact, I am neither aware nor informed about any potential talks between both subjects and if any deal is alive, that would be possible through the contacts of our president who is also Italian.”

The report said that Spinelli is eyeing Maltese football as a possible destination where he could combine football with his activities as entrepreneur in the port sector, since the maritime industry is one of the strongholds of the Maltese economy.

Aldo Spinelli, owner of Livorno.

In fact, Spinelli is also the chief of the Spinelli Group, which offers logistics and transportation serivces, including in the port sector since it specialises in maritime transport. 

Spinelli has always been able to juggle his business and football activities concurrently, opting for port cities as his primary destination.

In 1985 he took over Genoa and he stayed as president of the Grifone for the following 13 years, leading the club to a historic fourth place in the 1990/1991 campaign and to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in the following year.

Afterwards, he took over the reins of Livorno, where he also established his company’s operating base. 

Under his presidency, the Tuscan club reached new heights as they were promoted to Italy’s top-flight and earned a UEFA Cup participation in 2006.

Meanwhile, the newspaper report is also claiming that the Maltese clubs are also looking to implement the idea of commercialization of TV rights in a bid to boost their financial coffers and providing them with the opportunities for further investments both locally and internationally.