http://www.aboutaball.co.uk/footballnews/View.php?ArticleID=725Liverpool and Inter Milan to fight it out for Quaresma's signature?
Internet message rooms are abuzz with talk that Porto’s Ricardo Quaresma is finally on his way. The former Barcelona player has been persistently linked with a move away from the Dragao Stadium, with Liverpool and Inter the most likely destinations.
Interestingly the player himself claims he has already agreed terms with a club but has refused to name that side until after Euro 2008 where he is currently playing for Portugal. However, given the pace with which news travels in this age and the lack of secrecy surrounding the supposedly secret deal to take Scolari to Chelsea as their new manager, such a claim seems unlikely.
Nevertheless the fact that the Porto winger is on the move this summer is more certain. After several excellent seasons with the Portuguese team, with whom he won the Superliga yet again, the player is believed to be ready for a new challenge and would welcome a move abroad.
Liverpool were believed to close to signing Quaresma last summer with fees being suggested in the £20 million mark but in the end Benitez went for the cheaper Yossi Benayoun preferring to spend higher fees on other high profile targets such as Torres and Babel.
With reports that Liverpool are preparing to move Benayoun on after an inconsistent season at Anfield a new right winger will be needed as Jermaine Pennant also seems to have disregarded. The arrival of Philip Degen at Liverpool for the right back slot plus the potential arrival of Quaresma would see the whole of Liverpool’s right side remodelled in time for the start of next season.
However, given the uncertainty over the Liverpool board situation at the moment it is hard to know who would exactly sanction the spending of such a sum likely needed to snare the player, and this may let in another potential suitors, most notably Italian giants Inter.
Inter Milan will now be linked with many players after the arrival of Jose Mourinho at the club. However, Inter are believed to have a long standing interest in the player with chairman Moratti most interested in the player after he caught his eye in a friendly some 3 months ago which the Inter supremo attended.
An outstanding performance that night left Italian media humming with the prospect that Inter would sign the player. Inter are hunting desperately for a new right winger following the retirement of Luis Figo and Quaresma would certainly fit the bill. Mourinho, although never having coached Quaresma at Porto, is familiar with the player and would jump at the chance of signing him from under the noses of Liverpool.
Quaresma was also linked with Arsenal and Chelsea but a move to London seems unlikely now. Arsenal probably don’t have the sort of finances required to make a move for the player whilst Quarema and Scolari have never seen eye to eye at national level so a move to Chelsea is now totally out of the question.
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