Nicolò Barella will finally complete a move to Inter by the end of this week, Gazzetta dello Sport reported today.
Inter and Cagliari met for fresh talks yesterday and reached an agreement on the midfielder’s valuation, after the Rossoblu dropped their asking price of €50 million up front.
Barella is due to sign for €45 million plus €5 million in add-ons, but Inter will not pay for a permanent deal and the add-ons will not be easy to trigger.
The formula will most likely be a loan deal worth €10-12 million followed by an obligation to buy for €28-30 million, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Inter were unwilling to increase their previous offer of €36+4 million but Cagliari’s flexibility on the structure of the deal encouraged them to to raise their proposal.
Beppe Marotta and Piero Ausilio will now discuss the deal with Inter president Steven Zhang before holding a final meeting with Cagliari tomorrow or on Thursday.
Having signed Barella Inter’s attention will switch to selling those midfielders they no longer want, with Joao Mario, Borja Valero and Radja Nainggolan all on the way out.
Nainggolan is open to the idea of moving to China but he wants to be free to evaluate the economic and sporting benefits of each potential destination, unwilling to join a second-rate club.
Selling the Belgian would enable Inter to pursue another midfielder alongside Barella and Stefano Sensi, which could be Barcelona’s Arturo Vidal.
