For the record, "I'm fantastic" in Italian is "Sono fantastici." So says Google, anyway.In a move that was as hard to predict as the sun rising in the east this morning, former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was named the new manager at Inter Milan today.
The big Italian club has won Serie A three times in the last three years under Roberto Mancini, but after a series of spectacular flame-outs in the UEFA Champions League, Inter sacked Mancini and brought in the Special One to change their European fortunes.
Inter plans to start by giving Mourinho £100 million to spend during the summer transfer window, which means the raid on Stamford Bridge should begin any day now. Didier Drogba is probably gone after his Moscow slap fest -- even though Henk Ten Cate, the coach who tossed Drogba under the bus, was shown the door last week. Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho might follow Mourinho to Milan as well. After all, if you want to kill your old club, you start by buying all their biggest stars, right?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2008 @ 1:40PM
Enganche said...
Mourinho is a winner there is no question about that but how long before his huge ego clashes with the equally large ego of Inter club president Massimo Moratti? That is what got Mourinho in trouble with Chelsea.
Then again if he wins most, if not all, problems will be forgotten!
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 5:17PM
Phenn said...
A raid on Chelski? They don't need Inter's money with their sugar daddy Roman. I don't see more than Drogba coming to Inter. There's no reason for Chelski to sell the rest of those guys. The money received means nothing to them unless they just don't want the player, and Essien, Carvalho, and Lampard are far too valuable for them to lose, especially Lampard's goals following Drogba's departure.
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 5:54PM
Dave said...
Phenn: That's only true if the new Chelsea manager decides he wants to keep those players. In the case of Lamps and Essien, any manager probably would, but if they spot a dynamic central midfielder at EURO 2008 that can be had for 15 million quid, they might choose to sell Essien to Inter for 20 million to pay for him.
Stranger things have happened in this game, after all.
Reply
6-03-2008 @ 8:30AM
Jeff said...
Wait, so let me get this straight - Inter dumped a coach who won a bunch of domestic titles but couldn't do shiat in Europe for a coach who... won a bunch of domestic titles but couldn't do shiat in Europe? How is this a good move?
Mourinho's the soccer equivalent of Marty Schottenheimer, except he's also frickin' insane! Are you seriously telling me that Inter's going to put up with his whiny self-absorbed antics so he can crap out in the UCL round of 16 for the next three seasons?
Reply
6-03-2008 @ 8:37AM
Dave said...
Jeff: Mourinho actually did win a Champions League in 2004 with Porto. That he couldn't quite win one at Chelsea probably doesn't matter that much to the Inter owners. Jose still took Chelsea further through the Champions League than Mancini took Inter.
Reply