Moratti rules out transfer window moves

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti on Thursday ruled out any January transfer window signings despite coach Jose Mourinho admitting he wants to buy a striker.

Inter will lose Cameroon forward Samuel Eto’o for a month on African Cup of Nations duty in the new year and Mourinho is worried that will leave his side short in attack.

With Argentine Diego Milito, young Italian Mario Balotelli and little-used Honduran David Suazo the other forwards on the club’s books, Mourinho was hoping to sign either Bayern Munich’s Luca Toni or Goran Pandev of Lazio.

“Right now there’s no chance that either Pandev or Toni will join. We’re fine as we are and we’ll try to go forward with what we’ve got,” Moratti told reporters.

“Even if he has asked for a striker Mourinho knows full well the efforts the club has made.

“At the moment we have no intention of signing anyone because these would be big commitments and now is not the right time.”

Inter Milan invested heavily in the close season, bringing in Eto’o, Milito, Thiago Motta, Lucio and Marko Arnautovic.

However, given that Eto’o arrived for free as part of the deal that took Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona and swelled Inter’s coffers with 50 million euros, the club’s net outlay wasn’t so great.

But although Moratti is reluctant to delve into his pockets, he stuck up for his coach who has become the Italian media’s favourite hate figure.

Mourinho has come increasingly under fire after insulting a journalist following Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Atalanta.

But while Moratti publically apologised for any offence caused, Mourinho refused to do likewise, stating that his comments were made in private and hence no public reaction was necessary.

“With me and the players the coach’s behaviour is very different from that which we read in the papers,” added Moratti.

“Objectively speaking, something happened and I thought that he (Mourinho) succumbed to a moment of ire. That disappointed me and so I apologised for that.”