Fresh off a season in which absolutely dominated Italy’s Serie A, winning the league title by an astounding 22 points, Inter Milan is showing no signs of allowing the competition to close the gap. Spearheaded by 15 goals from Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 14 from Argentine striker Hernan Crespo, and 10 from everyone’s favorite Zidane antagonist, defender Marco Materazzi, Inter scored a league-leading 80 goals (6 more than #2 Roma, 18 more than #3 Fiorentina), but the club is not relying on past successes, aggressively bolstering its frontline in the summer transfer window.
Earlier today, Inter completed its signing of Cagliari striker David Suazo to a four-year contract for an undisclosed amount. After breaking Gigi Riva’s club record with 22 goals in 2005-06, the 27 year-old Honduran international led Cagliari with 14 goals this past season and shared the honor of best foreign player in Serie A with AC Milan’s Kaka, arguably the top footballer on the planet today.
The signing of Suazo was the culmination of a truly bizarre two week transfer battle between city rivals Inter and AC Milan. Two weeks ago, Inter announced the signing of Suazo but, after failing to finalize the deal, Suazo was offered to AC Milan, who would have signed him had he not already signed a contract with Inter.
In addition to Suazo, another world-class striker, West Ham United’s Carlos Tevez, has expressed a strong interest in joining Inter Milan this summer. Top clubs from around Europe, including Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid, have expressed an interest in adding Tevez to their squads, but the Argentine international has made it clear that Inter is his club of choice, saying that “Inter’s team is like an Argentina colony”, referring to the presence of fellow Argentines Crespo, Julio Cruz and Javier Zanetti on the club’s roster.
Tevez, whose controversial transfer from Brazilian club Corinthians to West Ham with fellow Argentine international and now-Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has come under the intense scrutiny of the English FA, played brilliantly in the final weeks of the English Premier League season, helping West Ham avoid relegation with a beautiful goal on the season’s last day against Manchester United.
In the event that Inter is successful in adding Tevez as well as Suazo to its attack, it may signal the end of the road at the San Siro for another of the clubs’ talented strikers, Brazilian international Adriano. Following another disappointing season for the Nerazzurri (5 goals in 14 games), Adriano will likely be made expendable by the arrival of two world-class strikers. This would open the door for not only his return to Fiorentina, where he played 15 games in 2002 on a loan deal, scoring 6 goals, but a reunion with Adrian Mutu, a Romanian international with whom Adriano formed a potent scoring combination at Parma in 2002-03. Fiorentina recently lost more than a quarter of its goal production (16 of 62) following the £7.5 million ($15 million) sale of Italian striker Luca Toni to Bayern Munich.
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