Della Valle Willing to Sell Fiorentina

A statement released today on Fioretina’s official website indicates that the Dalle Valle brothers, owners of Fiorentina, are willing to listen to "concrete offers" for the club.

Below is a (rough) translation of the statement in full:

"The ownership of Fiorentina announces that is absolutely willing, given the dissatifaction of the supporters, to stand aside and make the club available to those who want to buy it, and manage it how they see to be right.

This is the time when one who loves the Viola jersey and believe that the company could be managed differently, and with more success, must come forward.

The ownership is available to take concrete offers, obviously only from those who really want the Viola jersey and have the seriousness and solidity needed to run a challenging company like Fiorentina.

If, as we hope and hope, there is a project run by ‘true florentines’, they will find us as open and available as possible, yet another testament to our respect for Fiorentina and the city of Florence.

In the meantime, the club will be managed with attention and competence by its managers, who have all of respect needed by the owners and that, as always, will work with the utmost commitment."

The statement comes just a short time after it emerged that the Della Valle were considering legal action against Tuscan fashion designer and Fiorentina fan Roberto Cavalli after he criticised the manner in which the club had been run under Marche-born shoe merchants, as well as making a number of possibly defamatory statements.

Whether the statement is evidence of a genuine intent to move on from the club, or just a snide jab at the dissenting fans remains to be seen, but either way it seems that the relationship between the ownership and the fans has reached a new high - or low - level of toxicity.