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Argentinian national team and London forward Hernan Crespo returns to Italy - after a three-year break, the player will again wear the shirt of the Milan team. With his new club, the Argentine signed a two-year contract and moves to Inter without a transfer fee, but Chelsea will have the option to get him back after the season.
The 31-year-old striker recently obtained Italian citizenship and has long expressed his desire to return to play in Serie A, where he played for eight seasons and gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous strikers in the league while representing Parma, Lazio, Inter, and Milan.
Although Chelsea recently stated that the player will stay at the club if a suitable offer is not made for him, on Monday, Inter's sporting director Marco Branca, a representative of the London club, Hernan Crespo himself, and his agent Fernando Hidalgo met in Milan and finalized a deal, which is similar to the transfer of the player's compatriot, Juan Sebastian Veron, to an Italian club two years ago.
The footballer, who did not adapt to life in England, still has a house on the outskirts of Milan and recently stated his desire to return to Italy: "The fact is that I love Italy. Money and success have nothing to do with it. Italy is my natural environment, it is where I will live when I finish my career, and it is the best place to play."
Hernan Crespo also showed interest in AC Milan, where the player spent the 2004/05 season on loan from Chelsea. The Argentine moved from Inter to the English club in August 2003 for 25 million euros and last season became a Premier League champion with the "Blues", but with the arrival of Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko in the team, there was no place for him.
Meanwhile, for the newly crowned Italian champions, Inter, the striker became the second famous player to supplement the team this week - at the beginning of the month, the Milan club acquired French national team defender Patrick Vieira from Juventus in Turin. Furthermore, it is believed that Inter is also actively interested in another Juventus player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who refuses to play in the lower Italian league and requests to be sold.
