Inter have officially completed the signing of Hakan Calhanoglu on a free transfer. They showed interest in the midfielder after Christian Eriksen’s health scare and quickly reached an agreement. He has inked a three-year contract with an optional fourth season, Sky Sport report.
Calhanoglu will make €5M per year plus bonuses with the Nerazzurri, while Milan offered €1M less. He returned to Italy for the medicals and put pen-to-paper following Turkey’s elimination from the Euro. He will play as offensive-minded box-to-box in Simone Inzaghi’s design.
Calhanoglu leaves Milan after four seasons, where he has logged 32 goals and 48 assists in 172 appearances. He moved to Serie A from Bayer Leverkusen for €23M in 2017. After some ups and downs, he became a key piece with Stefano Pioli at the helm. He becomes the eighth player to transfer directly from the Rossoneri to Inter. Mario Barluzzi, Fulvio Collovati, Aldo Serena, Guglielminpietro, Francesco Coco, Thomas Helveg, and Antonio Cassano preceded him in such decision.
As it happened with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Milan refused to cave to requests they considered too high. They did it even at the cost of losing players for nothing. President Paolo Scaroni told Rai Gr Parlamento: “We have put a limit to the wages of our footballers. We made an offer for Calhanoglu, if he found a place where he earns more, good for him, he is a professional. He had an excellent season and always behaved correctly with us. Everybody has the liberty to make their own choices, we have no regrets.”