Inter Milan ready to swoop for Nani

Italian giants Inter Milan are set to offer Manchester United outcast Nani an escape route from his Old Trafford nightmare by offering £ 12 million for the Portuguese international winger.

According to media reports in Italy, the Italians are looking to rebuild the club by bringing in fresh faces to the San Siro and are expected to table a formal bid for the player in the coming weeks.

The club’s boss Walter Mazzarri is looking forward to build a squad that can challenge for the top honors in Italy once again next season as he also targets a return to the European scene as well and he has made the Portuguese internationals one of the key players for his revamp of the squad.

Nani joined the Old Trafford giants back in 2007 for a fee of £ 20 million from Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon and was seen as a direct replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo. However, he has failed to nail down his place in the Old Trafford side with his inconsistent performances and with the emergence of Adnan Januzaj, he has seen his opportunities limited even more.

And Inter Milan of using this unsettlement on his part to lure him to the club this summer, just like they did with former United skipper Nemanja Vidic.

Juventus are also credited with an interest in the player as well as Premier League giants Arsenal but Inter are confident their offer will blow the others out of the water in the chase for the eccentric but talismanic winger.

Nani is currently in Brazil with the Portugal squad for the World Cup and it is expected Inter Milan will open talks with his agent and Manchester United over a possible move for the player as soon as the team returns to Europe after the World Cup.

Inter Struggles In Second Half

Inter Milan will be making the away trip to Livorno hoping to win only their third match in the last five matches. Their form has been very poor in the second half of the season and it has led them away from contention for the Champions League places. It was highly anticipated that Inter Milan would return to Champions League football following the arrival of Walter Mazzarri, who has achieved immense success at Napoli in the last few years. However, the team has been struggling to get motivation to perform well in the second half of the campaign.

Apart from the 1-0 win over Torino and the 2-0 win over Hellas Verona, Inter have been struggling for form in the last few weeks. They are four points behind fourth placed Fiorentina, but with a game in hand. Even though Livorno are struggling to stay in the division, Mazzarri says that this will be a tough match since it is at the home of the opposition. According to him, Livorno have a strong support and every match in the Italian Serie A has become extremely difficult to think about three points even before the encounter.

Inter have almost given up hope of reaching the top three after Napoli have opened a sizeable advantage of 16 points.
“Every game in Serie A is tough, they’re all tricky, plus Livorno have strong support. They need points. You need to approach every opponent in the best way possible right from the outset, then when we have the ball we have to try and finish as soon as possible. We’ll do everything we can to put in a good performance at Livorno,” said the Inter Milan manager ahead of the match. A win over Napoli, who are set to face Inter Milan before the end of the campaign, could do little to alter the current position.

INTER SET FOR VIDIC

Shelling out an approximate 20 million pounds, Inter Milan is all set to bag the ace centre, Nemanja Vidic. The international footballer from Serbia is being welcomed by San Siro, for a three year stretch contact which is costing Inter Milan 20 million dollars. Vidic’s contract with Old Trafford was expiring this summer as he signs his new deal.

This thirty two year old centre back is expected to earn 6 million pounds a year with Seria A, now that the £20m has been put on table. With him gone from Old Trafford, Man United boss David Moyes will need to work hard to find a replacement for Vidic.

Manchester United got Vidic way back in 2006 with 7 million pounds from Spartak Moscow. It is quite likely that along with his departure, Moyes may also face with the loss of talent in the form of Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand from the team.

Defender Patrice Evra has been reported to be in conversation with Piero Ausilion, Inter Mialn’s sporting director this week in London and might leave Old Trafford along with Nemanja Vidic, end of this summer. The thirty two year old defender’s contract with Manchester United ends in 30th June this year post which he will be made available for auction in the typical Bosman style transfer.

Meanwhile, ex Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho seems to be all set to be back to the club if Roman Abramovich chooses to let him go from Chelsea. He comments that at the moment he is pretty happy to be with Chelsea, but there is a good chance that in the forthcoming time Abramovich might decide to let him go. If that happens he will chose none but Inter among all Italian clubs.

STRUGGLING

Inter Milan’s latest victory in the Serie A was during their match against Ac.Milan as they played on December 22 and from there on out they have only been able on getting negative results. Suffering losses against Lazio and Udinese as well as having to settle to a 1-1 draw against Chievo Verona.

Even though it’s expected that the new owner of the club Erick Thohir will start investing on the club with fresh signings, the Indonesian billionaire has already stated that in order for him to sign new players into the team they will have to offload some of their own before bringing in new ones.

Fredy Guarin is considered to be one of the best midfielders that Inter Milan has to offer at the moment but the Colombian player is being heavily linked with a move away from the Italian club as many other top European clubs are interested in signing him.

The midfield and defence zone of Inter Milan have been the most critized in this season with Jonathan and Yuto Nagatomo are proving their worth at the wing back positions but the same cannot be said for Ranocchia and Juan Jesus who have hit rough patches and cannot seem to understand the schemes that Walter Mazzarri is trying to implement in Inter Milan.

Moving up into the midfielders, Esteban Cambiasso is nearing the end of his career and a replacement would be a wise decision for them to make. Daniele de Rossi is easily one of the best defensive midfielders in the Serie A and a substantial offer from Erick Thohir can tempt As.Roma on selling the Italian midfielder.

When Erick Thohir was questioned about the recent struggles that Inter Milan was going through he responded by saying that the club is entering a ‘’period of transition’’

“We are now entering a period of transition,” Thohir said.

“Ideally, the average player should be aged between 24 and 26 years. This does not mean that the heroes of the 2010 treble are not appreciated, but it is clear that even younger players must be incorporated into the squad.