Felipe Melo and Rodrigo Palacio close to exits

It’s been made clear by Piero Ausilio, Javier Zanetti, and anybody else connected to the club that the January transfer market would mainly be devoted to cutting down the squad size. The fact that Inter are already making moves for a midfielder (and soon defenders) doesn’t change that, it just means that departures are even more necessary. It looks like the first few moves are soon to be underway.

Felipe Melo looks to be the first player that will be leaving Inter. The 33 year old arrived in the Mancini era and after the Italian manager left he saw less and less playing time under Frank De Boer and Stefano Pioli. Melo looks to be returning to Brazil to play for Palmeiras. Both parties have been pretty tight-lipped about a transfer fee but with his contract expiring in the summer don’t expect Inter to be walking away with much money from this one. The Brazilian did not travel with the rest of the squad for the training camp in Spain and his departure looks imminent.

Like Melo, Rodrigo Palacio’s contract expires at the end of June. Originally the plan was for him to stay at Inter until the end of the season and then leave on a free transfer to his old club Boca Juniors, but his return to Argentina might be delayed a little longer. Atalanta and former coach Gian Piero Gasperini have come calling for the 34 year old and Palacio seems to be open to the idea of playing in Bergamo. TuttoSport is a little more hesitant about this move, claiming that Inter do not want to sell the Argentine and would prefer to keep him around until the end of the season. I seriosly doubt that because this squad has too many attackers already, Palacio rarely plays, when he plays he doesn’t do that well anymore, and because TuttoSport is generally a load of crap.

If/when both players depart, I would like to wish them the best of luck at their next respective clubs. Melo didn’t do a lot for us but he came to Inter when called upon and served Mancini fairly well. Palacio has been a model Inter player for years and though I have slammed him recently for his poor performances, he always works his socks off for this team and for that I am grateful.