- Dec 13, 2013
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Hello guys.
The latest reports from Italy is that Marotta (Inter's CEO/Sporting Director) has made a first offer of €8-10m. (Don't shoot the messenger.) Marotta is an excellent director but known to be a bit miserly.
Naturally, you'd expect the first lowball offer to get rejected and for negotiations to go from there.
This past year we haven't "saved" much in our transfers. We've ended up paying nearly the full asking price for most of our arrivals, albeit mitigated by the way the transfer is structured.
For example, we paid around €50m for Nicolo Barella. If I recall correctly, the deal was structured as €15m loan fee + €32m obligation + €3m in easily-met bonuses.. or something along those lines.
If this deal gets done, I'd expect us to pay pretty close to original €20m asking price in some form or another.
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I'm reluctant to weigh in on the debate over Inter and the "size" of the club and all of that stuff. All I will say is that I believe Serie A has increased it's stock in the eyes of footballers in recent years - as has Inter.
We've recently exited a banter decade (fingers crossed) with a new, solid, management structure (unlike Milan). We have a financially powerful ownership in the Suning Group helping us achieve record levels of revenue from sponsorship and financial growth.
There are also new tax laws in Italy which allow new residents over a certain income threshold to pay less tax. Previously, clubs would have to pay €8m gross for a player to earn €4.5m net after tax (rounding up here). With these new laws, the club would only have to pay €7m or so (again, rounding up). This helps Italian clubs to compete with other leagues in better economies in paying top wages.
Overall, even as cynical as I am in my view towards Italy and Serie A, I believe that Serie A and Inter are a much more attractive destination than they were 5 years ago.
Lifestyle too. Dolomites, lake district (garda como etc), and a host of other places a short distance away. Milan itself is a great city and the food is sensational.
I'd be off like a shot.