Inter bid £31million for Tomas Rosicky

[Elvis Pressley]

Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund have rejected a £31 million bid from Internazionale for Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky.

Rosicky signed a five-year deal after moving from Sparta Prague for £8.4 million in December last year.

The player's agent Pavel Paska also played down talk of the youngster using his move to Dortmund as a springboard to Serie A. "Tomas has signed a contract with Dortmund until 2006 and we will definitely honour this contract," he said.

Zorc was adamant that, although making a profit of over £20 million in nine months was tempting, the German club were right to snub the bid. "We might be a company listed on the stock market, but Tomas was not bought as part of a speculative transaction.

"We want to build a new squad around him that restores us tot he success we once had," added Zorc, who was part of Ottmar Hitzfeld's Dortmund squad that beat Juventus 3-1 in the1997 Champions' League final.

"I have to admit that the offer of £31 million made us dizzy, but if we sold Rosicky, our fans would tear down the Westfalenstadion."

Inter coach Hector Cuper has targeted Rosicky to supply Christian Vieri and Ronaldo up front as Alvaro Recoba is banned for a year for passport irregularities.

Under Hitzfeld, Dortmund won two German titles in 1995 and 1996 before he ended his coaching spell at the Westfalian giants with the European crown in 1997.

The £31 million offer would make Rosicky the fifth most expensive player in the world.

Dortmund, who had scouted the youngster for several months, beat off competition from Bayern Munich and, ironically, Inter to win the race for Rosicky when their rivals baulked under Sparta's £8.4 million valuation.

But the 20-year-old prodigy wasted no time in settling down in Dortmund and has impressed with his superb technique and vision. He played a major role in helping Dortmund finish third last season, ensuring qualification for the Champions' League group stages. That guarantees former club Sparta Prague a bonus payment reportedly worth another £1.3 million.

Since the arrival of Czech compatriot Jan Koller from Belgium champions Anderlecht this summer, Rosicky's game has improved further and Dortmund top the Bundesliga with four straight wins.

'Schnitzel', as he is nicknamed by his team-mates, scored his first Bundesliga goal in Dortmund's 4-0 trashing of Wolfsburg last month.

Rosicky admitted earlier this year that he had settled well since the move: "So far I'm very happy. I think I'm playing well and my understanding with my team-mates on the pitch is getting better and better. I'm pleased with the praise in the media, but it's not turning my head. I'm just concentrating on my football."

[Elvis Pressley]

Dortmund confirm Inter’s Rosicky bid

Thursday 6 September, 2001

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Inter are believed to have made a £25m plus bid to sign Borussia Dortmund forward Thomas Rosicky. Reports in the German Press leaked the story which has since been confirmed by Dortmund club officials.

"The bid is not an invention," said director Michael Zorc. "With the amount of money that is being reported we would be very tempted but we couldn’t sell because there would be uproar amongst our fans."

Dortmund Coach Matthias Sammer, a former Inter player, also seems to be unwilling to release the 20-year-old. "Rosicky is of fundamental importance to this side. All you have to do is look at how many goals he and Marcio Amoroso (ex-Parma) have scored."

The talented youngster arrived in Germany in December 2000 when he was signed for around £6m from Sparta Prague.

Inter are believed to still be chasing a new forward with Enrico Chiesa and Roberto Muzzi also linked with a San Siro switch.

[Garrincha]

Ok, let me get this straight.

Inter lost the "auction" for this kid and Dortmund bought him, right? For approximately $10 millions. OK. This means Inter offered less that $10 mil.

Now he's at Germany, and Inter gets all upset because they can't field Alvaro "fake-passport" Recoba, and suddenly they're ready to pay TRIPLE the price they recently refused to pay?

Now, maybe it's just me, but who's the blubbering moron who handles these things in Inter? Because this move makes NO sense. It's shredding money, man! Why not go all the way BEFORE Dortmund took the kid?

Maybe Inter has too much money; one has to wonder how long they'll keep that money, with this sort of idiotic management...