New details on the Arturo Vidal deal with Inter Milan

Per a report by Gazzetta dello Sport that was captured by Sport Bild, Inter Milan’s deal for Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal is close to complete, but the financial details are different than initially reported. Inter Milan is actually set to pay less for the Chilean star than initially thought.

The deal will initially take the form of a loan, sending Vidal to Inter. Although Sport Bild does not name a loan fee, €10 million would be a good guess on the basis of the formal transfer fee that Inter will pay once they activate their option to buy, similar to the deal that sent Douglas Costa to Juventus:

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Chilean international is to sign a three-year contract with the Italian first division and earn 4.5 million euros per season. Overall, the transfer would cost the Milanese club €18-20 million in transfer fee.

Per a report by Inter Milan-focused website Sempreinter that cited information from FC Inter News, Vidal is a specific target of Inter Milan coach Luciano Spalletti.

Speaking to the press following his sides performance against Chelsea, Luciano Spalletti asked the club for two more players that fit a certain profile. The first was a right-back to replace Joao Cancelo, and it appears the club have met that request with the signing of Croatian Sime Vrsaljko. The second was a world-class central midfielder. In the past 24 hours, there has been a flurry of activity to satisfy the coach and all signs now point to the arrival of Chilean Arturo Vidal in Milan.

In short, there is total agreement between the player and the club. The deal represents a significant coup for Inter who overcome competition from Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea to sign the Chilean. Links to Barcelona and Milan were found to be pure fantasy. With a contract agreed, the Nerazzurri must now find an agreement with Bayern Munich. Although the Bavarians were originally against the idea, it appears now that they will renew Vidal’s contract for a further year so that the player can move on loan (presumably with a purchase option).

Sport Media Set also had details that a key to the deal was for Vidal to formally sign his contract extension with Bayern before any transaction could commence.

Instead, the player was offered a three-year triplet of €4.5 million per season. All this, however, would come only after Vidal signs an extension of his current contract with the Germans, currently set to expire in 2019, for another season. Once this signature arrives, the doors to the transfer will open.

To solidify the fact that Vidal may have been looking for a new landing spot, Sport Bild cited an earlier quote from Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge detailing how Bayern would handle Vidal’s desire to transfer:

Arturo is known to have another one year contract with us. And if he wants to sign longer with a club, he will deal with it. We will not act from our side. If he comes to us and he wants to leave the club, we will deal with it.

As always, once anything official is announced from the teams or the player, we will have an update.