Inter Milan would lose an ‘irreplaceable’ player if Marcelo Brozovic leaves the Serie A champions for a fresh start in the Premier League with Newcastle United or Tottenham Hotspur, Nerazzuri legend Beppe Bergomi tells Tuttosport.
Back in 2019, Antonio Conte claimed that Brozovic had everything in his locker to become a ‘world class’ footballer but stopped short of comparing his Croatian supercomputer with the legendary Andrea Pirlo.
Two years on, comparisons between Brozovic and Pirlo are only growing in volume and veracity. And with good reason.
Inter’s number 77 is playing the best football of his career in deep-lying playmaking position, blossoming brilliantly in a more withdrawn role after years of being utilised out wide or in a more box-to-box role.
His development into a string-pulling number six, in many ways, mirrors that of Pirlo.
There are few players on planet earth who can dictate a game, break the lines and set the tempo quite like Brozovic. Frenkie de Jong, Rodri and Toni Kroos some of the few joining the former Dinamo Zagreb youngster in a rather elite footballing club.
No wonder Inter Milan are desperate to tie him down to a new contract.
Will Marcelo Brozovic join Tottenham or Newcastle for free?
Brozovic is due to become a free-agent next summer.
And, according to The Times, a Newcastle side who are making a concerted effort to sign Serie A’s best and brightest have added him to a lengthy wishlist which includes Stefan de Vrij and Thomas Strakosha.
A reunion with Conte at Tottenham Hotspur has also been discussed.
“He is irreplaceable in (Simone) Inzaghi’s eleven. You don’t have another Brozovic, another player who can do that kind of work,” Bergomi, a 1982 World Cup winner with Italy, points out.
“And in Europe, how many are there of Brozovic? If you have to make an effort (to keep one player), I would do it with him.
“You have to make him understand that he is in a great team, with a great project and that he can become a flagbearer. It cannot always be just a question of money, the sense of belonging also counts.
“You have to feel the shirt, identify yourself with an important club like Inter, in its history. Brozo must understand this.”
Unfortunately, it seems that it is a question of money after all. According to Tuttomercatoweb, Brozovic wants £120,000-a-week – far more than Inter Milan are willing to fork out.
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