Bit of a surprise to hear that Lucio has decided to leave Inter. Lucio’s agent Sandro Becker is quoted as saying today:
“He had three excellent years at Inter and feels it’s time to make a change,”
“We have been working on this since last week and resumed talks on Wednesday. We put in a transfer request and Inter have agreed. Now we have to find him a new club.
“Considering the man he is and the player he is, Lucio only leaves friends behind everywhere he goes. The decision to leave came from us, but Inter understood it. This has been entirely amicable.
“He still has two years left on his contract and we know Lucio has a market value. If we find a new club, then we will talk it over and reach an agreement.
“His preference would be to play in a big European League, but you never know. There are also many clubs interested in Brazil and Lucio knows the World Cup will be here in 2014. We don’t know what his future holds.”
There is no doubt that age caught up with Lucio this season and that he really struggled this season, especially against the better sides.
My feeling is that Inter told Lucio that he would only be a squad player next season and not would not be playing on a regular basis and that was not something that he was willing to accept.
The big question now is whether Andrea Ranocchia can step into the void left by Lucio and play at a high level every week, or whether Inter need to buy a top class center half this summer?