Texan businessman Tim Barton‘s bid to buy Serie A club Bari has collapsed after Barton tried to delay payments for the club. Bari CEO Salvatore Matarrese claims that Barton, owner of the real-estate company JMJ Holding, asked for a 60-day delay on Wednesday to complete his payments. “After attentive analysis, it was not considered reasonable to concede further delays to JMJ Holdings,” said the Matarrese group.
A preliminary agreement in August deemed that Barton pay $1.46 million at the end of September before handing over the remaining $35.1 million by the end of October. Barton was set to become the first American to buy an Italian club. Four English Premier League clubs are controlled by Americans: Manchester United (Malcolm Glazer), Liverpool (Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.), Aston Villa (Randy Lerner) and Sunderland (Ellis Short).