Inter Rejects €40 Million Offer for Stankovic Amid Transfer Talks

Inter have drawn a thick red line through the name of one of Europe’s most coveted young midfielders. And they have done it with conviction.

Brentford arrived with a proposal that would make most Italian balance sheets purr: €40 million for Aleksandar Stankovic, fresh from a title-winning, award-laden season at Club Brugge. For a player only just back from loan, it was the kind of offer that usually opens a long conversation.

This time, it was over almost before it began.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Inter, the player and his family all responded in unison: no. Not “maybe later”, not “come back with more”. Just a flat refusal. In a summer where Italian clubs are routinely pushed into selling, Inter chose to ringfence a 19-year-old Serbian youth international as untouchable.

Chivu’s blueprint: Stankovic as Calhanoglu’s heir

The reasoning lives on the training pitches of Appiano Gentile. Cristian Chivu has a clear tactical map in his head, and Stankovic sits right at the heart of it.

Across pre-season, the Romanian coach has been drilling his five-man midfield with one eye on continuity and another on succession. Stankovic is being moulded as the primary understudy to Hakan Calhanoglu in the deep-lying playmaker role – a position that has quietly become one of the most delicate in Inter’s structure.

Inter have tried to improvise there. Piotr Zielinski has dipped in. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been tested. Even Nicolo Barella has stepped back at times. The outcome has been uneven, the rhythm of the team never quite the same without Calhanoglu dictating the first pass.

Stankovic changes that equation. He offers what the staff see as a natural fit: clean technique under pressure, a calm first touch, and the positional discipline Chivu demands from the base of midfield. Those around the camp describe the trust in him as “unconditional”. That is rare language for a teenager at a club of this size.

Keeping him is not just about potential resale value. It is about insurance. Inter face another long season spread across Serie A, Champions League and domestic cups. Chivu wants a like-for-like deputy for Calhanoglu, not a makeshift solution. Turning down €40 million is the clearest sign yet that the club backs that vision.

Jones admired, but a crowded engine room

Locking in Stankovic does not mean Inter are closing the door on midfield reinforcements. Quite the opposite. Curtis Jones remains a name underlined in bold in the sporting department.

Chivu is a long-time admirer of the Liverpool midfielder – his running power, his ability to cover multiple roles, his willingness to press and carry the ball. Within the club, Jones is viewed as an almost tailor-made addition for a side that thrives on intensity between the lines.

There is one problem. Numbers.

Inter’s central areas are congested. Between established starters, versatile veterans and now a protected asset in Stankovic, the squad sheet is heavy in the middle of the pitch. Any move for Jones would need an exit first, and not a marginal one. For now, that keeps admiration firmly in the realm of opportunity rather than inevitability.

Romero targeted as final defensive pillar

If midfield is a jigsaw of fits and exits, defence is where Inter want a single, decisive stroke. The focus has turned squarely to Cristian Romero.

Inside the club, the Argentine is seen as the last major piece of a backline built to withstand European football at full throttle. Aggression, front-foot defending, leadership – Romero ticks boxes that Inter have been trying to fill since reshaping their defence in recent windows.

On the club-to-club front, the hard work appears done. President Giuseppe Marotta and sporting director Piero Ausilio have, by all accounts, reached an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur on the transfer fee. That removes the most obvious obstacle and signals serious intent.

The deal now sits in a familiar holding pattern: personal terms.

Romero’s camp is asking for a salary in the region of €7 million per season. Inter’s wage hierarchy raises a red flag there. Benjamin Pavard currently earns around €5 million, and breaking that ceiling for a new arrival risks a ripple effect in the dressing room and on the balance sheet.

So the negotiation has slowed. Not collapsed, but paused at a point where both sides know the numbers and the distance between them.

Strategy over desperation

Across these decisions runs a clear theme. Inter are operating with calculation, not urgency.

They have shown they will not cash in on their brightest prospects at the first sign of big money, as the Stankovic-Brentford episode underlines. At the same time, they are still chasing players of global profile and proven pedigree in Jones and Romero.

That mix comes at a cost. Romero’s wage demands test the limits of the club’s structure. The midfield, packed as it is, blocks a straightforward move for Jones. The likelihood is that the final weeks of the window will require creativity – and perhaps a painful, high-profile sale – to keep the project moving without tearing up the financial plan.

For now, though, one message is unmistakable: Inter’s future in the middle of the pitch will be built with Stankovic in it, not sold off at the first English bid. The next big call is whether they are prepared to bend their wage model to bring Romero in as the enforcer behind him.