An interesting conundrum: What does Inter Milan do at midfield?

So, the summer transfer window is slowly coming to a close and while Inter Milan have been extremely active, there is still one position left to resolve: midfield.

As the team looks to part with Joao Mario (thank goodness), the Nerazzurri need one more piece of the puzzle before entering the Serie A and Champions League fray.

Initially, the team looked set on Bayern Munich and Chilean international Arturo Vidal. A smart move considering the experience and the asking price.

Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

But, Wednesday, an interesting twist started to develop. Real Madrid’s Luka Modric emerged as another possibility. And all of this started, allegedly, because Modric’s wife, Vanja Bosnic, reached out to Inter Milan to gauge interest in signing the Croatian international, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Simple, from a call from the wife of the Croatian midfielder, Vanja Bosnic, who grew up at the school of the controversial Zdravko Mamic: ‘Do you want Modric?’” the report said.

Who said wives don’t have power? Hello Wanda Icardi!

In the meantime, Vidal’s agent, Fernando Felicevich, is believed to already be in Milan to meet with Piero Ausilio to shore up a deal. Additionally, FCInterNews reported that Giovanni Branchini is in Germany to wrap up the deal with Bayern officials.

The deal with Bayern would be for an “expensive loan” coupled with a €22 million purchase option at the end of the season. In that event, Bayern Munich would likely extend Vidal’s contract through 2022 in the event Inter do not exercise the purchase option. Additionally, Football Italia reported that Inter would pay Vidal €4.5 million per season, a drop in wages.

Now, monetarily, it is highly unlikely that Inter could pull off both deals and bring them both in at the same time. So, the question becomes which direction does Inter go?

Again, just focusing on euros and cents, Vidal is the best option. Even with an “expensive loan” he would be way cheaper than Modric. Modric has a large buy-out clause with Real Madrid — somewhere around €500 million — and Financial Fair Play would prevent the Nerazzurri from even coming close to it. It means any deal for Modric would have to be a typical loan-purchase. The question becomes how much will Real Madrid want to loan out Modric?

On the field, Vidal is a much more physical player than Modric. Modric likes the ball and likes to move with it. On the other hand, Vidal is a scrapper and fights for the ball. Personally, I think Vidal more fits the personality of the team and fits better with the likes of Radja Nainggolan and Marcelo Brozovic.

All-in-all, I believe Vidal is the best option for Inter at this point. He’s a better fit and comes with a much better potential price tag. While Modric is a class player and would likely do well at Inter, getting a big name for the sake of a big name (hello Juventus) isn’t necessarily the best deal to make.

What do you think? Post your comments below!