In recent seasons, AC Milan have been highly criticised by fans for their binging on out of contract players, signed on free transfers.
Despite buying Mario Balotelli from Manchester City for around €20 million, the Rossoneri have stayed away from paying high transfer fees in the mercato post-Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho.
The club’s strategy of bringing in players on the cheap hasn’t proved too successful since Milan’s Scudetto win in 2010/11.
They will not take part in European competition next term as the team finished eighth last season, a small indictment of their transfer policy although coaching and management can also share the blame.
With their strategy meeting resistance from many supporters, bizarrely it appears their city rivals and San Siro neighbours Inter have opted for a near identical plan this summer.
Erick Thohir took over in the autumn of 2013 and made an immediate splash in the transfer market by purchasing Hernanes for €20m. It was a mighty high price for a player in his late 20s, but his two goals and four assists in 14 matches contributed to Walter Mazzarri’s side qualifying for the Europa League.
Since Thohir added the Brazilian last winter, Inter have shown few signs of spending money to acquire talent despite apparent holes in the squad; especially up front. With the Serie A season kicking off in just over four weeks, Mazzarri’s squad have only been slightly improved upon from last season.
Inter are willing to pay around €10m for Cardiff’s Gary Medel, a high price for a player from a team that was relegated last season.
Now that the Nerazzurri have adopted for the Rossoneri’s market strategy, Inter’s biggest move this summer, so far, has been for an out-of-contract Nemanja Vidic.
That deal was done before last season ended as the Serbian put pen to paper on a pre-contract. His addition to a backline that was quite solid last season, giving up only 39 goals while scoring 62, should improve that area further.
Despite being 32-years-old, Vidic will compliment the Inter defence well, although it will be worrying that Vidic hasn’t played in a back three in recent years. He will need time to acclimate to Mazzarri’s preferred style alongside last season’s key signing Hugo Campagnaro, a player that surprised everyone and quickly became the leader of the team.
Vidic will not be the only new defender in black and blue. Inter added Dodo on loan from Roma for a small fee of €1.2m, a two year loan. They will have an option to make the move permanent when the loan expires. The Nerazzurri also added full-back Danilo D’Ambrosio from Torino as the club will have numerous defenders competing for a limited number of positions.
Meanwhile, Thohir has been quoted saying Inter will play with a back four at times this season and not just Mazzarri’s typical back three.
With Inter in need of midfield help, Yann M’Vila was also signed on a loan deal from Russian side Rubin Kazan. In fact, MV’ila could be a replacement for Fredy Guarin, if the Colombian finally moves away from the San Siro. Like Dodo, Inter will have an option to buy M’Vila permanently after this season. With several players on loan-to-buy deals, it seems Thohir’s Inter is a little short on cash at the moment and will only be able to purchase the players outright, if the team make the Champions League.
Serie A will be a very competitive league this season and making the Champions League will be a big ‘if’.
Finally, it was revealed last Thursday that Inter may have agreed personal terms with former Roma and Juventus player Dani Osvaldo. The Italian went AWOL from Southampton’s preseason and has been pining for a move back to Italy almost since the moment he left.
He was able to get a winners’ medal last term during his loan spell at Juventus, but the Bianconeri were uninterested in parting with the cash to sign him permanently.
Inter are also uninterested in paying for Osvaldo, at least for right now, and are hoping for another loan deal. Osvaldo would give them more dynamism up top, but alongside Mauro Icardi, Inter will have a combustible duo that could explode at any minute.
Luckily the steady Rodrigo Palacio is still at the club and will be the cooler head in the striker corps.
Inter still have their eyes on several players like Gary Medel and Eder Alvarez Balanta, but paying a high transfer fee may be out of the question this summer. Though the club have been close to agreeing a deal for Medel for about €10m, it may be next summer before Inter are ready to spend large sums of money on several individual players.
Loan signings and free transfer may have to suffice until the club can get back into the Champions League.
Follow Drew Farmer on Twitter @CalcioFarmer
