Zhang Jindong, the founder of the Suning Group, has explained their plans to buy into Inter Milan.

The chairman was speaking to Beijing News.

“Suning's entry into football was based on two considerations," Jindong explained.

“The first is that football has a lot of fans, and Suning always evaluates potential consumers based on the potential of the market.

“Secondly, the development of football can provide social cohesion, it can provide social responsibility.

“Sport has always been a very big part of people's. With the improvement in living standards I think the demand for sport and sporting culture will increase substantially among our consumers.

“We're therefore considering various entry strategies, such as video streaming or the founding of new football clubs.

“Deals in Europe such as Inter? We bought two players from Europe last year [Ramires and Alex Teixeira] so people in Europe will now know that there's a Suning brand.

“If we can build a strong relationship with European clubs and great players then I think our brand would penetrate the European market.

“For the development of our sector it could be useful."