Marotta reopens Inter fury over Palestra’s Chelsea move as agent Lucci blasts back

Marotta, speaking alongside head coach Cristian Chivu, was asked about the deal that appeared close to taking the full-back to Inter Milan before an eleventh-hour turnaround sent him to Chelsea instead.

Addressing the broader financial picture first, Marotta said: “Of the 20 clubs in Serie A, 13 are foreign-owned. In our case, after Zhang, Oaktree is also bringing stability, and that’s not nothing.

“The goal is to win sustainably. For the second year running we’re approaching a financial result that should be satisfactory, especially considering we’ve won two trophies. There’s no room for lavish spending or reckless outlay — if you can’t spend, you need imagination instead.”

Turning specifically to Palestra, Marotta was more pointed.

“The Palestra case is the result of a choice made by the player, who went back on a verbal commitment made the previous month. His agent could perhaps have played a bigger role in advising him, but he chose this path, and we had to accept that the player went to a league we can’t compete with financially,” he said, before clarifying the sequence of events.

“We had an agreement with Atalanta that followed on from having found an agreement with the player. We didn’t withdraw from a commitment we’d made, nor did Atalanta renegotiate. It was a life choice that can be criticised or not — I’ve already said my piece on the player and his agent.”

Lucci responded via a statement to ANSA, expressing surprise at Marotta’s comments despite what he described as a long-standing professional relationship between the two.

“I listened with deep regret and, at the same time, enormous surprise to the words of Inter president Marotta, with whom I’ve had a relationship of professional respect for over twenty-five years, one that has led us to complete several transfer deals together,” Lucci said.

The agent disputed Marotta’s version of events, insisting Inter’s sporting director Piero Ausilio had held constructive talks with his camp without ever reaching a definitive agreement.

“Inter’s sporting management, represented by Piero Ausilio, carried on constant and constructive dialogue with us over the opportunity to complete the boy’s transfer. But the element that determined the outcome of the negotiation hasn’t been accurately reconstructed, not even in today’s press conference: over the course of forty-five days, the two clubs, with whom I was in daily contact, were never able to find a definitive agreement,” he said.

Lucci added that Chelsea’s late intervention, rather than any change of heart from Palestra, ultimately decided the outcome.

“This meant that Chelsea, with whom contact had begun just two weeks earlier — as I promptly flagged to both clubs — came into the deal with Atalanta, the player and us in the final days in an overwhelming way, to close the operation swiftly. At this point I hope we can finally turn the page and find the calm to work looking towards the future, without further gratuitous attacks on a boy who deserves respect,” he concluded.