Inter ‘have €160m transfer budget’
Inter Milan boss Rafael Benitez reportedly has a war chest of €160 million to splash out on new signings this summer. According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the new boss will use that mammoth budget to splash out on a number of stars, including his former charge Javier Mascherano from Liverpool.
A deal for 19-year-old striker Mario Balotelli to move to English Premier League (EPL) team Manchester City is expected to be completed this week, while Brazilian right-back Maicon is reportedly moving to Real Madrid. These transfers are expected to generate around €60 million for Milan. This figure, added to the €72 million from participating in last season’s triumphant UEFA Champions League campaign, €10 million in compensation from Madrid after losing former manager Jose Mourinho, around two-and-a-half million Euros from Rene Khrin’s season-long loan to Bologna plus undisclosed extra payments from the Balotelli and Maicon deals, makes up the €160 million transfer budget.
Although some of that massive figure is expected to be spent on players’ wages, club owner Massimo Moratti has said he is confident of improving the squad by adding top players, including Mascherano.
Mascherano wants to move on
The Argentina captain has revealed his desire to move on from the Merseyside club, with Milan appearing his most likely destination. Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson says the midfielder informed the club of his wishes after returning to training from a post-World Cup holiday. Hodgson said at a press conference: “He wants to leave the club, he made that perfectly clear. I think he wanted to leave a year ago. He wants to leave now but he has a contract (that runs until 2012) and I expect him to honour that contract. The mere fact that the player is a little bit unhappy with his situation and would prefer to leave does not necessarily mean that he will do. It disappoints me but it is not unusual. Mascherano is a Liverpool player with two years on his contract. I expect him to be a Liverpool player until the day the club chooses to accept an offer for him."
Back in March, Mascherano had been set to sign an extension to his Liverpool contract but the midfielder – who has made 138 appearances in three seasons for the EPL club – appears to have had second thoughts after Benitez’s departure to the Serie A champions. The 26-year-old is valued at around €30 million, but Moratti believes he can lower the cost of the deal by offering Ghanian midfielder Sulley Muntari as a sweetener.
Benitez is reportedly interested in signing several of his former players from Liverpool, including Reds captain Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Dirk Kuyt. Gerrard is regarded as one of the finest central midfielders in world football, having almost single-handedly dragged his club to the 2005 Champions League title. Since the arrival of Spanish forward Fernando Torres in 2007, he has often been deployed as a second striker, providing the link between the midfield and Torres. It is a role he seems to have relished, scoring 21 and 24 goals respectively in his first two seasons playing with the World Cup winner.
Johnson, a 25-year-old right-back, signed from Portsmouth in 2009. He is an attacking full-back, unafraid to venture up the right flank and fire in crosses towards the striker. He is also the first-choice right-back for the England squad. Holland international Kuyt is a versatile attacker, able to play as a forward or a winger. The 30-year-old has scored 36 goals for the Reds in 141 games since joining in 2006, and was part of the Netherlands team which reached the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.
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