Cagliari and Inter in Slap-Fight Over Suazo!

By: Martha | June 5th, 2007

D Suazo A few days ago, one of Tribal Football’s patented unsourced stories claimed that Inter Milan were seconds from signing the best Honduran footballer of all time, AKA Mr. David Suazo. At the time, it looked like yet another of their fanciful creations but, within about 24 hours, the story was all over the football media, and it’s already gone through about three different stages since that first story was published on Sunday.

First, everything looked grand: Cagliari and Inter had met and, despite the fact that an agreement was made in February to sell Suazo to Roma over the winter (no personal terms were worked out), both clubs seemed certain a cash-plus-co-ownership deal — the cash segment was reportedly between £5-7 million — would shortly be worked out, with Roma left out in the cold. Less than a day later, however, all hell had broken loose, with the question of which Inter players would be involved suddenly at issue. Initially, youngsters Marco Andreolli and Robert Aquafresca (partially owned by Treviso) were expected by Cagliari to be included. When Inter refused to let both go, however, Cagliari demanded the inclusion of Inter-owned Nigerian starlet Victor Obinna, with whom the Nerazzurri may or may not be willing to part.

Whatever the specifics of the current situation (they change depend on what you read), the confusion has apparently made Cagliari chairman Massimo Cellino so furious he might torpedo the deal, despite acknowledging that such a decision would be “a humiliation for both Suazo and Cagliari.” According to Channel 4, the two clubs are currently fighting over about £2 million as well as the services of both Aquafresca and Andreolli, who Inter reportedly refuse to let go — in their stead the Nerazzurri are said to be offering Consorte, Jonathan Biabany and either Obinna or Federico Piovaccari.

Man, this is just a no-win for Cagliari. No matter what they do, they’re going to lose Suazo soon, and when it happens some big club will have them over a barrel, simply because the smaller club is desperate for cash and young players. Really, it’s only a matter of time before they sell him, and it’s going to get increasingly difficult to drive a hard bargain. I say if Cagliari can get Obinna, they may as well just suck it up and make the deal; until they have to sell him on, he’ll bring them Suazo-style explosiveness for a few years.