AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi is now reported to be in talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping over the sale of the Serie A club, according to a report.
After talks with Thai broker Bee Taechaubol failed to reach a conclusion 10 days ago, Berlusconi has already held talks with another Chinese group.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Xi Jinping is now set to outbid them all to gain control of the Rossoneri.
It is the result of a promise Berlusconi made Jinping while he was Italy's prime minister -- he would be the first to know if he decided to sell Milan. That may not have been entirely the case with Taechaubol first holding talks with Berlusconi back in December, while the emergence of Jinping is only now starting to take shape.
It was first reported in China on May 7 that Jinping was launching a bid in excess of €1 billion -- twice the price said to have been offered by Taechaubol. The Chinese government immediately censured the reports and demanded their removal.
However Nelio Lucas, CEO of the Doyen Sports group representing Taechaubol, released a statement in which he expressed his optimism about a deal going through.
"We are certain that we will reach a positive conclusion to our negotiations," said the statement published by La Gazzetta. "The current owners of Milan know what is best for the club and they know that Mr Bee Taechaubol has the clubs's best interests at heart.
"Once the acquisition has been completed, Doyen Sports will contribute with its own knowledge of world football to the building of a winning side, capable of taking Milan where they belong and to be victorious again, attempting to win the Scudetto and the Champions League.
"Doyen has experience with many successful clubs and we are proud to have helped clubs like Porto, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid to compete at the highest levels. We are certain that, with Mr Bee's experience in the financial sector and his passion for the Rossoneri, combined with Doyen Sports, Milan will be victorious again."
Milan are currently enduring one of their worst seasons in Berlusconi's 29-year reign and it has been suggested his reluctance to complete the sale of the club is down to an unwillingness to walk away from the club at such a difficult time, perhaps obscuring the successes he did have over three decades.
They won the Champions League five times in that time, but Il Diavolo are all but mathematically out of the running for a place in Europe next season with three games of the season remaining.