MILAN // Inter Milan are unlikely to spend the money from Mario Balotelli's sale on a big-name forward having already recruited Coutinho, the exciting teenager, for the new season. Italy's European champions last night completed the transfer of Balotelli to the English Premier League side Manchester City after running out of patience with the 20-year-old, who was not a regular starter last term but found himself in a string of on and off-the-field incidents.
Letting go of one of the few homegrown talents to make the first team in a cosmopolitan squad has upset some fans, but Inter believe they have other youngsters who can cover. Coutinho, an 18-year-old Brazilian signed by Inter in 2008 before staying on loan at his previous club Vasco da Gama until last month, impressed Rafael Benitez, the new Inter coach, during a pre-season tour of the United States and could force his way into the team.
"We're happy with the youngsters we saw in America - youngsters we had already seen. So we can stay calm," Massimo Moratti, the Inter owner, told reporters when asked if last season's Serie A and Italian Cup winners would be making any big buys. A move for Giuseppe Sculli, the Genoa midfielder, is possible but Liverpool's Javier Mascherano has been deemed too expensive. Moratti said he would only buy if he sells and having kept Maicon rather than letting the Brazil right-back follow Jose Mourinho, the former coach, to Real Madrid, there will only be the Balotelli money available and few options to spend it in attack.
Kaka, the Real Madrid midfielder, has rejected claims by the doctor who operated on his knee that the player put his career in jeopardy by playing at the World Cup in South Africa. Kaka said in the Spanish newspaper Marca that Dr Marc Martens overstated the extent of the injury. Martens performed arthroscopic surgery on Kaka's left knee August 5 after a routine pre-season check by Real doctors discovered a problem.
Kaka said that Martens "is a great professional but he raised the alarm, he exaggerated a lot." * Reuters
