Albanian agrees to take over Bologna

Milan: Bologna`s owners have agreed to sell their controlling stake in the Serie A club to Albanian oil businessman Rezart Taci, they said."Aktiva Spa... has reached an agreement to sell the controlling stake in Bologna FC to a company headed by Rezart Taci," read a statement on club`s website.

"The agreement will be finalised in the first week of August." Aktiva Spa is the company through which the family of president Francesca Menarini controls the seven times Italian champions, who scraped to safety in May having returned to the top flight after three years. The Menarini family are selling up after angering fans by talking to disgraced former Juventus director Luciano Moggi about a possible consultancy role at the club. Moggi has been banned from football for five years for his role in Italy`s 2006 match-fixing scandal, in which Juve were demoted to Serie B, and the prospect of him working with Bologna quickly evaporated when the news came out. AS Roma have also been linked to a sale to foreign buyers in recent years, but talks with a Swiss consortium broke down last month after US billionaire investor George Soros pulled out of negotiations in 2008. Bureau Report