Real Madrid complete €35m deal for Internazionale’s Mateo Kovacic

Roberto Mancini claims Financial Fair Play rules necessitated the sale of 21-year-old

Real Madrid have completed the signing of Internazionale’s Mateo Kovacic for €35m. Photograph: AFP
Real Madrid have completed the signing of Internazionale’s Mateo Kovacic for €35m. Photograph: AFP

Real Madrid have confirmed the signing of 21-year-old Mateo Kovacic from Inter. The two clubs agreed a €32m fee at the weekend, with a further €3m in add-ons, and the player signed his contract on Tuesday morning.

The player will be presented at 1pm on Wednessay, in the presidential box at the Santiago Bernabéu, after undergoing a medical.

Inter are likely to use some of the money from the Kovacic transfer to sign Ivan Perisic from Wolfsburg.

The Inter manager, Roberto Mancini, said on Sunday: "We need to sell Mateo because of Financial Fair Play. We are sorry because he is a good player but those are the rules. Now we can try to sign some other players."

READ MORE

Kovacic joined Inter from Dinamo Zagreb in 2013 and was linked with a move to Liverpool earlier in the summer. He scored five goals in 80 league appearances for Inter, with the Nerazzuri having to wait for 20 months before his first Serie A goal.

(Guardian service)