Inter won the first derby of the season – the one that was not played on the field but in the muffled halls of the Montecarlo hotels – and beat Milan in extremis by winning the French midfielder Goeffrey Kondogbia. The scope of the offer was decisive: 35 million plus 3 million bonus to Monaco and 4 million a year plus bonus to the player.
Milan, who had started ahead, didn't feel like spending so much and had to suffer the fourth straight no of this transfer market after Ancelotti's and Ibra's. "Whoever wins for Kondogbia bleeds to death and it is not said that he is the real winner" had prophesied Adriano Galliani, who is now being subjected to the supporters and will have to run for cover to give the new coach Mihajlovic a team capable of competing for the upper areas of the ranking.
But for Milan, the summer of nightmares did not end with Kondogbia: the twist was that of Jackson Martinez, stolen in extremis from the Rossoneri by Simeone's Atletico Madrid. Another ko.
Whoever laughs is Inter. To convince Kondogbia, coach Roberto Mancini also took the field with a direct phone call to the player but the real difference was made by money. For the Nerazzurri, Kondogbia's signing is the most expensive of the Thohir era. At Inter only Bobo Vieri had cost more (90 billion lire) but that was Massimo Moratti's era.
