Inter have a very interesting decision to make regarding Palermo goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano who was recently named as one of four goalkeepers in Italy’s preliminary 32-man Euro 2012 squad.

Viviano is co-owned between Palermo and Inter, but the Nerazzurri have an option to take him back to Inter this summer.

The problem is that Viviano does not would not want to return to Inter simply to be a back-up for Julio Cesar according to his agent.

“Everything needs to be evaluated when it comes to Viviano,” representative Renzo Contratto told Radio Sportiva.

“He deserves to be the No 1 ‘keeper for an Italian or foreign club.

“I won’t deny that Viviano has settled into Palermo well and they would have the priority if they wanted to keep him.”

Viviano, who missed six months of action after damaging knee ligaments in pre-season, joined Palermo in January and was terrific.

So what does Inter do with Viviano? Do they look to sell him this summer and go with Julio Cesar for another season or two, or do they make the change now and bring Viviano back and sell Julio Cesar?

It’s a real crossroads summer for Inter. They have an old squad that needs overhauled. But does Massimo Moratti have the patience to have a real clean out this summer and bring in youth and excitement next season, even if it does not mean that Inter will challenge for the title?

Personally that is my preference. I can handle another mid-table finish next year If I can see that Inter are building a good young side that will challenge for years to come. What I don’t want is a mediocre side, that finishes six or seventh and doesn’t compete and doesn’t have a future.

But what would you do with Viviano and Julio Cesar? Who should be Inter’s starting goalkeeper next season?

According to Sky Sport Italia, Inter have completed the permanent transfer of Fredy Guarin from Porto for around €11m.

Guarin joined Inter on loan in January for six months at a cost of €1.5m and Inter had the option to purchase the player this summer for €11m. It is this option that they are now exercising.

It took Guarin several months after he arrived at Inter to actually play due to an injury, but he apparently impressed new Coach Andrea Stramaccioni enough in his six games for Inter to buy him outright.

What do you think about the move to sign Guarin? Is it a good deal at €11m?

Bit of a surprise to hear that Lucio has decided to leave Inter.

Lucio’s agent Sandro Becker is quoted as saying today:

“He had three excellent years at Inter and feels it’s time to make a change,”

“We have been working on this since last week and resumed talks on Wednesday. We put in a transfer request and Inter have agreed. Now we have to find him a new club.

“Considering the man he is and the player he is, Lucio only leaves friends behind everywhere he goes. The decision to leave came from us, but Inter understood it. This has been entirely amicable.

“He still has two years left on his contract and we know Lucio has a market value. If we find a new club, then we will talk it over and reach an agreement.

“His preference would be to play in a big European League, but you never know. There are also many clubs interested in Brazil and Lucio knows the World Cup will be here in 2014. We don’t know what his future holds.”

There is no doubt that age caught up with Lucio this season and that he really struggled this season, especially against the better sides.

My feeling is that Inter told Lucio that he would only be a squad player next season and not would not be playing on a regular basis and that was not something that he was willing to accept.

The big question now is whether Andrea Ranocchia can step into the void left by Lucio and play at a high level every week, or whether Inter need to buy a top class center half this summer?

Inter boss Andrea Stramaccioni says he must try and mastermind a serious Scudetto challenge in 2012-13 because the expectation at Inter is that they are title contenders every season:

“If you are called Inter then you have to aim for the Scudetto,” the 36-year-old stated in an interview with the Corriere dello Sport.

“There was more than a 20 point gap between us and Juventus, but I train players who are used to fighting for victory and competing for the big objectives. We have players who know how to win.

“Transfers? We need to make a few changes that will allow us to rebuild. The new foundation will start with a clear idea which we have in our minds.

“This summer transfer window will be fundamental in terms of buying and selling because, as the President says, this will be year zero.”

The tactician added that he’s a fan of Napoli’s Ezequiel Lavezzi and Brazilian youngster Lucas, the talented Sao Paulo midfielder.

Stramaccioni is one of a number of young Coaches in the European game after being promoted from the Primavera set-up, but he doesn’t have the playing past of Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte or Luis Enrique.

“I haven’t had a career as a footballer, I wasn’t in great changing rooms and I haven’t played games at a certain level,” he noted.

“But at the same time I have a small advantage in that I was already a Coach at the age of 23.

“I was a decent player too and I even appeared for the Under-15 national side alongside Francesco Totti, Alessandro Nesta and Marco Di Vaio.

“But I got seriously injured at the age of 15 and, after three operations, I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Stramaccioni, who added that 4-3-3 is the “best formation” to cover the field of play, also revealed contact with Real Madrid tactician Jose Mourinho.

“Mourinho has given me more than one piece of advice,” he explained. “I never told the players this though.

“He contacted me, I think because he loves Inter. I listened to his words and I thanked him. I’ve never met him face to face, but it is a pleasure just to be able to speak with one of the world’s top Coaches.”

 

According to Radio Mana Mana, Inter and Genoa have reached an agreement on Mattia Destro.

Genoa sporting director, Stefano Capozucca, in an interview with Radio Mana Mana, has confirmed that a verbal agreement exists between Genoa president Enrico Preziosi and Inter president Massimo Moratti on the Italian striker.

“Destro? There is an verbal agreement between Moratti and Preziosi: in case of a sale, the priority would be given to the Nerazzurri.”

There are reports that Napoli’s Lavezzi is heading to PSG and it looks like Inter have quickly pivoted and went after the former Inter academy striker.

Personally I like Destro much more than Lavezzi. I don’t think that Lavezzi scores enough to justify his transfer fee, while  the Genoa striker scored 12 goals in 30 League games, as well as one in two Coppa Italia ties this season. Plus at 21, Mattia Destro can be an Inter player for the future.

What do you think about Mattia? Would he be a good signing for Inter?

Transfer rumors are the worst. Every day, we are treated to several outrageous claims that tantalize us until we realize that the team interested in acquiring a certain player is linked to about four other players. It’s pretty simple to make up your own transfer rumor: “(big-money club) is interested in (superstar player) and is willing to pay (outrageous price tag)!”

However, in most cases, those players end up moving. Perhaps not to the clubs they were originally speculated to join, but in due course, they will inevitably find their way across Europe and experience a change of scenery. Football is a business, and clubs that need financial help have no choice but to sell their best players in order to recoup money. Two of the greatest modern examples are both in Spain. Valencia has had to sell David Silva, David Villa, and Juan Mata (3 of the national team’s top players) in the last two seasons and still managed to finish in third place both years. Atletico Madrid has gotten rid of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan in order to clear their salaries off the books and may have no choice this summer but to offload Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, one of the most dangerous forwards in Europe.

Inter’s sixth-place finish this season has prompted Massimo Moratti to strategically analyze the summer transfer market in hopes that his club will make the progress that is necessary to compete in the Champions League. Moratti has already confirmed the return of manager Andrea Stramaccioni and defender Andrea Ranocchia. It is best to first stabilize the core of the club for next season before dipping into the market and plucking players from other clubs. Serious question marks loom over some of the older players on the club. Diego Forlan has basically one foot out the door on his way to Atletico Miniero, and veterans such as Cristian Chivu, Maicon and Lucio need to be evaluated by the club before a decision can be reached on whether they will be sold or not.

That being said, the prospect of Napoli star Ezequiel Lavezzi coming to wear the black and blue of Inter is steadily gaining steam. Lavezzi is an interesting player because of his versatility up front in Napoli’s counter-heavy attack. He is capable of playing on the left wing and can operate as a second striker (center forward). It is rumored (although it is likely) that Lavezzi’s buy-out clause in his contract would cost a club about 30 million euros to secure his services. Two days ago, the Argentinean’s agent Alejandro Mazzone had denied any contact between Lavezzi and Inter:

“Lavezzi has never told me that he wants to leave Napoli and he has never met with Inter president Massimo Moratti… I’m frequently in Milan and I can confirm that Ezequiel was in Milan on the weekend that the Lecce-Napoli game was postponed, but he was there for personal reasons.” (as told to CRC Radio)

One can only wonder what those “personal reasons” really were. Granted, the club still has to play in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus but Lavezzi’s future may cast a dark cloud over the club in its preparation. Lavezzi had 9 goals and 8 assists in 29 Serie A games and could contribute greatly to the attack of Inter.

Additional rumors are certainly aplenty for Inter. Following the loss of Thiago Motta to Paris Saint-Germain, reports state that the Nerazzurri are interested in signing PSG’s 22-year old defender Mamadou Sakho. Moreover, Manchester City players Nigel de Jong and Aleksandar Kolarov are also reportedly on Inter’s radar. Eventually, we will get more of an idea of who Inter is really pursuing and how feasible the signings are.

Once the transfer window opens, football media will only get more hectic as headlines will be constantly churning out big names and big price tags. Let’s hope the Nerazzurri make a splash this summer.

Transfer rumors surrounding Inter continue to fly, with many of the focusing on creative players.

With the departure of Mauro Zarate, and probably departure of Wesley Sneijder, Inter need playmakers, other than Napoli’s Ezequiel Lavezzi. One name that keeps cropping up is Catania’s Alejandro Gomez.

Inter have watched the 24-year-old tricky winger several times this season and Sky Sport Itaila is reporting that Inter’s interest in Gomez is growing stronger.

One potential stumbling block though is the gulf between the two clubs’ valuation of the player. Inter are reported to be willing to pay between €6m and €8m for il Papu, while Catania are asking €10m for the Argentine.

If Inter and Catania can come to some sort of agreement for Gomez do you think he will be a good signing?

Yesterday on Sky Sport, Napoli’s sporting director Riccardo Bigon confirmed that negotiations have began with Inter over Lavezzi and that negotiations will continue according to Bigon:

“There are no developments regarding the future of Pocho. Is Lavezzi going to Inter? At the moment we cannot give definitive answers because negotiations are only at a very early stage.

Lavezzi is liked by a lot of clubs around the world, not just Inter, which is the only team who has a clause that allows them to enter negotiations at these terms but right now we only think about the Italian Cup final.

Discounts? We are talking about a world class player so no one can talk about discounts. Does Lavezzi want a new challenge? Absolutely not as I talk to him everyday. He is well here at Napoli and also very serene. He has given Napoli so much and for this reason, he is an idol.

Meeting with Moratti? It’d be seriously wrong if Lavezzi and Moratti had met, the relevant parties should deny this, he’s always been professional.”

What do you think about Inter’s pursuit of Lavezzi? My concern with Lavezzi is his lack of goals. In 37 games with Napolli this season he scored 11 goals and had 9 assists. Not bad numbers, but not the sort of numbers you pay 20 or 30 million euros for.

Upon entering the Saras offices on Monday, Inter president Massimo Moratti responded to questions from journalists, with an eye on the recent past, a summary of the Nerazzurri’s season and a glance toward the future.

Now that the season is over is it possible to immediately determine the plan for re-starting?

“Now we’ll see, gradually. It’s not as if we’ll do it all today. Now we have a period in which we can reflect on the opportunities that are there and what we can do.”

Can we say that you’ll re-start with the confirmation of Andrea Stramaccioni and Andrea Ranocchia?

“Add someone else… and then we’re done [smiling]. We’ll start by confirming those who deserve to stay.”

How did Massimo Moratti view Inter’s performance against Lazio yesterday?

“Inter played very well. Not just better than Lazio, but truly very well. The first half was fantastic, then came two or three minutes when we let in two goals. Considering the experience we have it’s strange to me that this should happen and it changed the game. Then we had even more chances, but that counts for little. It was definitely a game that had to be wrapped up early.”

Is there one particular thing or choice, more than anything else, that influenced this season?

“More than one, and all the responsibility is in the choices. And then the choices went badly because the ones who were selected didn’t perform well. So it was more than a negative situation. Of course this all gives you experience. The fault? To a certain extent it was a combination of things, but it seems to me that the players always put forth their effort.”

For the future? Lavezzi, Destro…

“I’ll let you keep going… [smiling].”

 

Looks like Diego Forlan will be the first veteran to leave Inter this summer, but certainly not the last, as Inter have confirmed that they have received an “offer” from Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro for the striker.

While insisting he wanted to stay at the club only last month, Brazilian outfit Mineiro have made an approach for Forlan and Inter are happy to let him go.

Inter director Marco Branca told Uol Esporte:

“It’s true, we received a proposal from Atletico Mineiro for Forlan. We are in talks, but I cannot give any other information at this time. Forlan is considering this possibility, but nothing is decided yet. We are talking about it, but this is a complicated negotiation.”

Don’t understand why this would be a complicated negotiation. Someone wants to buy Forlan. Inter doesn’t want him. Sounds pretty straightforward to me