Inter Swapping Balotelli for Rossi?

As I always say when I write about trans­fers, please take this post with a grain of salt — there are so many trans­fer rumors out there that will never pan out.

That being said, Rafa Ben­itez should acquire Giuseppe Rossi with the money he acquires from trans­fer­ring Mario Balotelli.

It is one of the worst-kept secrets in soc­cer that Inter Milan is shop­ping Balotelli, pri­mar­ily to the two Man­ches­ters.  Yes­ter­day, Inter rejected a $25 mil­lion bid for him from Man­ches­ter City, as they should because they could prob­a­bly get much more for him, espe­cially if a bid­ding war erupts between EPL clubs.  How­ever, most of the soc­cer world antic­i­pates that Balotelli, who has soured on Serie A and Inter, will be play­ing for a new club next season. 

But a report today from La Gazzetto della Sport con­firms that Ben­itez has at least con­sid­ered acquir­ing Giuseppe Rossi from Valen­cia to replace Balotelli.  While Rossi has pub­licly com­mit­ted to remain­ing with his cur­rent club, Inter can use the cash from the Balotelli deal to entice Rossi to return to Italy.  Plus, the American-born player has said he con­sid­ered return­ing to Italy to play for Pama.  So while a Serie A return is unlikely, it is not far-fetched.

But what would a Rossi con­tribute to the 2010–2011 Inter squad?  Tac­ti­cally he would be an upgrade from Balotelli, as he is right now a more com­plete player.  Rossi would add to Inter’s impres­sive striker depth, rotat­ing play­ing time with Mil­ito and Eto’o.  He had 12 goals in domes­tic play last year, more than Balotelli.  Adding a ris­ing star like Rossi to the ros­ter would make Inter even more of a favorite to defend at least its Serie A title.

It would also give the club the face of Ital­ian soc­cer.  As the older con­trib­u­tors to the 2006 World Cup retire from inter­na­tional play, and FIGC offi­cials stress out over who will lead a new gen­er­a­tion of Ital­ian stars, Inter could grab the soon-to-be biggest Ital­ian star in soc­cer.  As tal­ented as de Rossi, Mon­to­livo, and other Ital­ian national team play­ers are, they lack the “Q” rat­ing of a Rossi.  While Juven­tus has been known as the feeder team for the Azzurri, the Ner­az­zurri could lay claim to being a team of inter­na­tional stars.  They could have the biggest Ital­ian star (Rossi), pos­si­bly the world’s best keeper (Julio Cesar), the world’s best defender (Maicon), Cameroon’s biggest name (Eto’o), etc.  As Cham­pi­ons League cham­pi­ons, Inter Milan could try and main­tain their hold on the crown with an inter­na­tional All Star team.

Of course, the trans­fer mar­ket will out­date this post within days likely, but what do you think of an Inter squad with Rossi?

Tagged as: Daniele De Rossi, Diego Milito, Giuseppe Rossi, Inter Milan, Julio Cesar, Maicon, Mario Balotelli, Rafa Benitez, Samuel Eto'o