That is not the headline that Inter fans wanted to see at the beginning of the transfer window. But a report in the English newspaper The Mirror says that Inter’s new owner is said to be astonished at the clubs wage bill and has decreed that none of their players should earn more than €2.5m (£2.07m) per year.
Italian clubs often report their wages as after tax, and I would think that €2.5m would be the after tax amount.
Inter have worked hard to slash their payroll from the triple winning side of 2010, and almost all of the high wage earners from that side have been sold in the last two years. The only ones left are Diego Milito, Esteban Cambiasso and Christian Chivu, and Milito and Cambiasso all make considerable more than who all make more €2.5m as the chart of Inter’s wage owners show.
Based on these numbers, Cambiasso would need to take around a 50% pay cut in order to return to Inter next season, something that he is not going to do.
I have written in the past about my misgivings over Thohir’s takeover at Inter. When a new owner buys a big club like Inter, he usually invests a significant amount of money in the upcoming transfer market, so that he can make a mark as the teams new owner.
Not Thohir though. He has halted contract negotiations with all players until February or March and has said that Inter need to sell before they can buy.
In November of last year I started to have concerns about Thohir’s ownership and I wrote at the time:
The media points out that Thohir understands sports due to his previous investments in Major League Soccer club DC United and the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team. Keep in mind the DC United have the fourth lowest payroll in MLS while the 76ers have the lowest payroll in the NBA.
There is nothing in Thohir’s background to indicate that Inter will be any different and that has to terrify Nerazzurri fans.
Unfortunately my worst fears for Inter fans appear to be coming true.
