Alessandro Altobelli threw a barbed comment at Romelu Lukaku whilst advising Inter to sign Bologna veteran Marko Arnautovic.
The 30-year-old Belgian striker became the talk of the town in Serie A this summer after his decision to secretly negotiate with Juventus whilst the Nerazzurri were working on setting up a deal with Chelsea.
Inter are still in the market for a new centre forward after moving away from Lukaku and one idea that’s started to gather steam in recent weeks is that of picking up Arnautovic in a low-cost deal, allowing them to invest in the defence.
Speaking on page 3 of today’s Gazzetta dello Sport, Altobelli discussed Inter’s interest in Arnautovic and reflected on the recent Lukaku controversy.
“Arnautovic was at Inter 13 years ago. Even though a lot of time has passed, this may help him fit in. And it can certainly have a bearing on the reasoning of the Inter directors.
“Having reached this point, they prefer players who know our league and Arnautovic knows it. Of course, playing for Bologna is not playing for Inter….
“There aren’t many strikers at certain costs who can be played. For me Arna is a player who is up to the job, but he’s also an emergency option given what happened to the two who were there before.
“Dzeko received a nice offer in Turkey and Lukaku is not even worth talking about, he mocked an entire fanbase, indeed all Italian fans, because there are ways and means to try to achieve your goals.”
Inter have decided to move forward for Arnautovic and reports emerged on Saturday that they’d increased their offer to Bologna, willing to pay around €8m. The Rossoblu would likely accept a deal worth circa €10m total.