La Gazzetta dello Sport claims Inter boss Massimo Moratti has rejected the latest offer of €26m from Real Madrid. Madrid had previously offered €24m.

According to the newspaper, Moratti is holding out for nothing less than €30m.

This transfer saga has been dragging on since the Champions League final in May. At some point either the deal has to get done, or the two teams need to walk away from the table.

The Inter Milan v LA Galaxy pre-season friendly scheduled tor August 7th in Los Angeles has been cancelled. Instead Inter will play Panathinaikos at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Tuesday August 3rd, 2010 at 8:00 PM. Buy Inter v Panathinaikos Tickets

The game is being billed as at Clash of Champions as Inter are the 2010 Champions League, Scudetto and Coppa Italia winners while Panathinaikos won the 2010 Greek Super League and Greek Cup.

Inter Milan is one of the most storied franchises in Italy. In 2010, they completed an elusive Treble, winning the 2010 Champions League, Scudetto and Coppa Italia titles. This past season marked Inter Milan’s fifth consecutive Serie A title, giving the team a total of 18 Serie A championship wins under its belt. An internationally recognized soccer powerhouse, Inter is also the winner of 28 Coppa Italia events as well as 3 Champions League titles.

One of the oldest clubs in Greek soccer history, Panathinaikos is a storied franchise with an international following. Home to some of soccer’s most identifiable players, Panathinaikos FC has won 20 Greek Super League titles and 17 Greek Cups, including Greek Super League and Greek Cup wins this past season. This team is a force with which to be reckoned. Buy Inter v Panathinaikos Tickets

photo credit: batrax

It looks like Inter Milan will be touring the U.S. again this summer as news has came out that Inter will meet the Premier League’s Manchester City in Baltimore on July 31st. A press conference regarding the announcement is scheduled for next week. Buy Inter Milan v Manchester City Tickets

Last summer’s friendly between AC Milan and Chelsea at M&T Bank Stadium was held in front of a sold-out crowd of 71,000.

Manchester City, the richest team in football, finished in fifth place in the English Premier League. With the game coming a couple of weeks after the completion of the World Cup, there is a possibility that many of the Inter stars will be available for the tour.

Inter Milan U.S. Pre-Season Tour
July 31st. Inter Milan v Manchester City in Baltimore - Buy Inter Milan v Manchester City Tickets
Aug 5: FC Dallas v Inter Milan - Buy FC Dallas v Inter Milan Tickets
Aug 7: LA Galaxy v Inter Milan - Buy LA Galaxy v Inter Milan Tickets

Our partnership with Viagogo means that we can offer Inter fans some terrific deals on prices to watch Inter play this season. You can check out the prices on these tickets here:

24/02/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Chelsea from €107
07/03/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Geona from €18
24/03/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Livorno from €10
03/04/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Bologna from €18
18/04/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Juventus from €79
25/04/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Atalanta from €18
09/05/2010 – Inter Milan vs. Chievo Verona from €18

Abbiamo il piacere di informarla che il Inter Fan Club ( la inter societa dei tifosi) e in associazione con viagogo, il primo agenzia di cambio biglietti per Inter Milan, per i nostri clienti!

viagigog e in associazione con Inter Milan e i nostri clienti possono comprare i biglietti direttamente delle persone munita di biglietto.

Opzione dei biglietti includono i biglietti per la partita e l’ospitalita.

Ecco un esempio dei biglietti disponibile

• 07 febbraio 2010 Inter – Cagliari - Da € 24,99
• 21 febbraio 2010 Inter – Sampdoria – Da € 22,19
• 24 febbraio 2010 Inter – Chelsea FC – Da € 89,99
• 07 marzo 2010 Inter – Genoa – Da € 27,99
• 24 marzo 2010 Inter – Livorno – Da € 20,00
• 03 aprile 2010 Inter – Bologna – Da € 29,29
• 18 aprile 2010 Inter – Juventus – Da € 99,99
• 25 aprile 2010 Inter – Atalanta – Da € 28,49
• 09 maggio 2010 Inter – Chievo – Da € 27,99

We are happy to announce that the Inter Fan Club has partnered up with viagogo, Europe’s leading ticket exchange to offer our readers Inter Milan tickets!

viagogo has an official partnership with Inter Milan and our readers can now buy tickets directly Inter Milan ticket holders. Ticket options include game tickets and hospitality.

Check out the Inter Milan Tickets that are available

Here is an example of the tickets available:
07 febbraio 2010 Inter – Cagliari - From € 24,99
21 febbraio 2010 Inter – Sampdoria – From € 22,19
24 febbraio 2010 Inter – Chelsea FC – From € 89,99
07 marzo 2010 Inter – Genoa – From € 27,99
24 marzo 2010 Inter – Livorno – From € 20,00
03 aprile 2010 Inter – Bologna – From € 29,29
18 aprile 2010 Inter – Juventus – From € 99,99
25 aprile 2010 Inter – Atalanta – From € 28,49
09 maggio 2010 Inter – Chievo – From € 27,99

The game in Boston last month was a warm-up for the main event this weekend. The Derby della Madonnina, or the Milan Derby game this week has so many subplots that I could fill a whole blog with them!

Some of the stories this people will focus on this week include Ronaldinho against his old Barcelona team-mate Samuel Eto’o.

Ronaldinho was simply terrific last week for AC Milan while Samuel Eto’o opened up his Serie A account with a penalty on Sunday. The Cameroon forward scored 104 league goals in 136 games for Barcelona and Inter fans will be hoping for a similar strike rate from the forward.

Part of the intrigue about the game is who will not be playing in it. Milan will be without Kaka, Carlo Ancelotti and Paolo Maldini who have all moved on our retired. Inter will be without Serie A’s top goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

While Inter’s new look includes Thiago Motta in midfield and Eto’o and Diego Milito up front, Milan will counter with their new €15m (£13m) signing from Real Madrid Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Milan, under new coach Leonardo, looked very poor in the preseason and a lot of people were picking them to drop out the top four in Italy this season. If Milan wins, then their confidence will be sky high and they might start to believe that they can compete for the Serie A title this season. If Inter beats Milan for the second time in a month, it sews some doubt in the Milan players minds about how good they really are. That is why it is critical for Inter to win.

Milan Derby Records

This evening negotiations took place between Inter and the agent of Samuel Eto’o, Jose Mesalles, as the two sides look to come to an agreement regarding the player’s transfer to the Giuseppe Meazza.

The Cameroon star looks set to join Inter as part of a swap deal that will send striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the opposite direction to Barcelona, but apparently the two parties are quite a distance apart, according to the Corriere dello Sport.

The Nerazzurri have offered Eto’o €9 million per season plus a number of bonuses, but the former Mallorca player is looking for a better offer. He is reportedly demanding €12 million per season for five years – a contract that would make him the highest paid player in football.

Negotiations are expected to continue tomorrow, with the presence of Inter president Massimo Moratti. The club patron has already stated that he is confident that Eto’o and Inter will come to a mutual agreement.

The 28-year-old was once again prolific last season, scoring 34 goals in all competitions, including the winning goal in the Champions League final against Manchester United.

Massimo Moratti spoke exclusively to Inter Channel after the annual Kick Off tournament at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

This is what the Inter president had to say (from Inter.it):

Kick Off is a beautiful event in the temple of football, where Inter and its sponsors get together for a football tournament that is always very popular.
“I think it’s fun for all those who are here, for those who love playing football and for those who get satisfaction from playing the game. It is an immense pleasure to receive in this stadium our guests, who are Interisti as well as our sponsors, just like it’s a pleasure to see the younger ones play; and it’s a pleasure to have organised this tournament again this year.”

After the Scudetto victory, it’s now time for the national teams. Did you see Davide Santon play for the Italian men’s national team?
“Yes, I did. He’s very good and he gave confirmation of his maturity and self-confidence. If he continues like this – and I think he will because he has the right character – he will become better and better. It’s curious that Santon is already in the men’s national team, whereas Balotelli still hasn’t got there, but I think this will happen because Mario is indispensable for the Under-21s at the moment. I think they will both become two mainstays of Italian football, and I hope they become two mainstays in the Italian national team – for them, but also for national sport in general.”

Unfortunately, Mario Balotelli was the victim of another bad example of intolerance last Saturday.
“It’s like being in another world when there are incidents like this. It’s like returning to a past that should have been forgotten. What I can do is apologise to Mario and tell him that we all feel guilty of inserting him in a society of this kind. However, he is an intelligent lad with incredible maturity and I am pleased that he kept his cool and acted seriously, without being traumatised by what was a dramatic incident.”

On the subject of transfers, all the Inter fans are asking themselves about the future of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“Unfortunately I have no one to ask. But soon, and with calm, we will reach a solution. We are not forced to sell or buy. We have a strong team, players who have shown they care about Inter, including Ibrahimovic who in his three years with us has done his duty as a great professional, so I think we can continue like this unless there are situations that put us in the condition to do a good thing for us, the player or other players. With the current economic climate it is obviously necessary to sell as well, but I am not pushing in one direction or another. We will what happens in the summer transfer market, we will try to create a strong team next year too because our objectives won’t change.”

After the sale of Ricardo Kakà to Real Madrid it has been written that Italian football is becoming poor. What’s your opinion?
“Look, so much money is spent on foreign players that it’s not football that’s becoming poor, but someone else… You become poor when you buy, not when you sell. I think that Milan have done a great deal from an ecomonic point of view, though naturally not from a sporting one, but Milan know this too, because Kaka is a champion and an icon. Both things weren’t possible though and I think it’s the player himself who wanted to leave in January, and in the end I think it’s a deal that has its logic, even if it’s a great disappointment on a sporting level and for the Milan fans.”

Speaking of symbols, an official announcement of Marco Materazzi’s contract extension is imminent.
“Yes, but Materazzi has renewed because he always plays well when he goes on the pitch, not because he’s a symbol. His contribution in the championship was always positive this year too so Mourinho confirmed to me that he still wanted him. (Smiles) I was pleased about this so in a way that is useful and convenient for the club we extended his stay at Inter to see what will happen in the future, seeing as he is still young…”

In an interview given a few days ago José Mourinho declared that Inter need to buy another player after closing deals for Thiago Motta and Milito, but some media have interpreted this declaration as Mourinho asking for other players…
“It will depend on how many players we sell and on what we will need. For now I think that we are concluding deals for two very good players who make the team a lot stronger. We will see if we need to buy more players, on the basis of transfers out and what Mourinho asks us for.”

Hernan Crespo, who will play for Genoa next season, left with great respect for Inter and the Inter fans.
“Crespo has been very important for us. He has scored important goals and we will have a good memory of him. The same goes for another great player, Luis Figo. In his time here, and we hope in the future too, he has not only shown that he is a fantastic player, but a fantastic person too and he is a shining example for all his team-mates and for the club. I believe and hope that we can renew, not in footballing terms, but in a management role, although I think he could have played on for another year. A thought also for Cruz, who is at the end of his contract. Less has been said about him, but he has been formidable and fantastic for Inter. With his great personality he has often led us to victory. He has played a bit less this year, but he was indispensable in the past. We have grown fond of these three players that I have just mentioned, but we are also grateful to them and I would like to say thank you. Players like these don’t deserve to be ’super substitutes’. Apart from Figo, who has stopped, the others can still be absolute protagonists in other teams.”

It has been confirmed that Inter Milan will take part in the Emirates Cup tournament in London this summer. The four tournament that starts August 1st will include arsenal, Glasgow Rangers, Inter and  Paris St Germain. When more information becomes available, we will update the post.