Indo-Inter ?

Inter Milan, officially known as Internazionale, could soon became more international than its own name says. The Italian club, founded in 1908 by AC Milan 'rebels' who opposed to the society policy to not use foreign players, has attracted the interest of the Indonesian businessman Erik Thorir. Reports suggest that Thorir, currently president of the Indonesian Basketball Association and owner of the south Asian media company Mahaka, has offered between 250 and 300 million euros to acquire the club.

Inter's owner Massimo Moratti has denied he wants to sell the club but, according to sources near to him, he'd be seriously thinking to negotiate selling the 30% of nerazurri's stock to the new Indonesian partner.

Despite Moratti's solid affection for the club he bought in 1995 in the attempt to repeat his father Angelo successes in the 60s, the news did not come as a surprise for many. The economic crisis has deeply affected Moratti's family investments and in particular the oil refining company SARAS has suffered huge losses in the last five years.

Massimo Moratti owns Inter since 1995

As a result Inter's finances have not seen any other colour than red, forcing the club shareholders to periodic recapitalizations. The last two years balances highlighted deficits of 155 and 148 millions of euro respectively. A deep hole caused by a huge disproportion in what is paid to staff and players (200 millions of euro) in respect the annual turnover (236 millions, in 2009).

In the attempt to cope with the new financial fair-play rules set by UEFA and remaining competitive in Serie A and Europe, Massimo Moratti had flirted over the last summer with Chinese investors, China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), who had been interested in buying the 15% of the club.

The fact that Inter decided to wear an unusual (and highly criticised by its own supporters) red shirt for its away games this season looked like a nice touch from Moratti to get the international partners closer to the deal.

But for the Inter's management frustration CRCC withdrew its interest last February after finding out that the construction of a new stadium would not have been as immediate as they desired.

Mazzarri signed 2 year deal with Inter

This season Inter, back in 2010 Champions League winner over Bayern Munich, has languished in Serie A middle table failing to qualify for European competitions after 14 years and collecting the worst record of defeats (16) since fifty years. Shocking number that have caused the sacking of the young manager Andrea Stramaccioni replaced by former Napoli's coach Walter Mazzarri.


But besides the economic constraints and the countless injuries that plagued the nerazurri's recent seasons, the club mistakes are blatant. The club, in the person of his sporting director Marco Branca, has not been able to manage the post-Mourinho era, failing to replace his star players (Eto'o, Balotelli, Snejider and Coutinho among others) with promising young talents (Ricky Alvarez, Alvaro Pereira and Matias Silvestre have costed all together over 30m euros and none of them starts regularly). Even the swap between Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini with AC Milan has resulted a wrong move for Inter, as Cassano missed the last and decisive part of the season because of an injury.

So now Massimo Moratti is seriously thinking about the future of his club, and a possible step back from its beloved creature. Internazionale supporters perhaps would not mind seeing the club entering a new era, more international to get back to the origins and previous glory years.