Stefano Okaka confirms he had been approached by Inter as a free agent after Marko Arnautovic’s injury. ‘I thank them for even just thinking about me.’
The Nerazzurri were left short-staffed in attack after Arnautovic was ruled out for at least a month by a hamstring strain.
With the transfer window shut and Alexis Sanchez not 100 per cent fit either, Inter had considered looking to bring in a free agent to bolster the numbers in Serie A.
Among the rumoured strikers they were interested in, Okaka was mentioned as a possible addition to the squad.
“My brother came to me and said, there’s something exceptional,” Okaka told Tuttomercatoweb.
“There was effectively something real in there, but now they should wait for Arnautovic to recover and score many goals. I send him a hug.
“Meanwhile, I thank Javier Zanetti, Piero Ausilio and Beppe Marotta for even just thinking about me. I grew up watching Ronaldo Il Fenomeno play for Inter.”
Arnautovic has been out of action since suffering the muscular injury on September 24, but could return to the bench next week in the Champions League trip to RB Salzburg.
Okaka turned 34 in August and is still a free agent after his contract with Istanbul Basaksehir ended over the summer.
His previous clubs include Udinese, Watford, RSC Anderlecht, Sampdoria, Parma, Spezia, Roma and Fulham.
“I received many offers, all of them concrete, from Serie A, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Greece and Spain. I took a while to think, take a break and then reboot.”