Freshly-crowned Serie A Champions Inter have run away at the top of the league this season despite their significant financial difficulties, thanks in no small part to their shrewd transfer business – explored here. They have leveraged the free agent market particularly well and look set to repeat the trick this summer, with Mehdi Taremi’s move to Milan all but officially announced.
By Neel Shelat
As far as value for money is concerned, few if any of the world’s top teams are doing as good a job in the transfer market as Inter have been doing in recent years. Besides their excellent identification of players whom they can sign for cut prices or even as free agents, their squad planning and preparation going into windows is concerned.
Inter look set to deliver yet another transfer business masterclass this summer as they have already gone about identifying potential signings and reportedly even struck some deals, including one that will see Mehdi Taremi join the club after his contract at FC Porto runs out in June.
This move will not only be an important one for Inter but also a huge one for Iranian and Asian football as one of their biggest stars is joining a club that has consistently competed at the world’s highest level of late. Even more impressive is the journey the 31-year-old striker has been on to reach this point in his career.
Unique Road to Europe
Taremi will surely be one of very few if not the first person to join a champion of one of Europe’s big five leagues having previously played for a team in the second-tier league of an Asian country.
He spent his youth career at a couple of local clubs in his hometown Bushehr before getting a break at the senior level for the city’s most historic team, Shahin Bushehr. After a couple of years, he took a break to complete his mandatory military conscription period before returning to football at the start of the 2013/14 season with Azadegan League side Iranjavan, whose youth academy he came through.
With an impressive return of 12 goals in 22 games, Taremi caught the attention of clubs around the country and was picked up by Persepolis, Iran’s most successful club in the summer of 2014. After taking a season to settle back in the Persian Gulf Pro League (in which he still scored 7 times), he took off and never slowed down.Taremi scored close to 40 goals in the two subsequent seasons, almost moving to Rizespor in Türkiye between them before signing a contract extension at Persepolis. His next transfer finally came in January 2018 when he joined Al Gharafa, with whom he spent the next year and a half, impressing both in the Qatar Stars League as well as the AFC Champions League.
Finally, after spending almost a decade playing senior football in Asia, Taremi moved to a club in Europe.
Prolific Record in Portugal
Portuguese side Rio Ave signed the Iranian international after his contract at Al Gharafa expired in what would prove to be one of their best transfer moves in recent memory. In his very first season in the Primeira Liga, Taremi averaged 1.1 goal involvements per 90 and finished as the league’s joint top-scorer, besides crossing 20 goals across all competitions.
Thanks to his prolific record in front of goal, Rio Ave recorded a memorable fifth-place finish and entered the Europa League qualifiers. However, he unsurprisingly attracted interest from bigger clubs including Porto, who signed him for just under €5 million that summer in another deal that looks like an absolute bargain in hindsight.
Taremi has crossed 20 goals in each of his three full seasons for Sérgio Conceição’s side, getting as many as 31 last term! He brings a lot more than goals to the table too, as his movement at the top of the line can open spaces for his teammates to operate in, he can use his body very well to hold up the ball and he is excellent at linking up with his teammates.
On top of all that, he can also create chances for his teammates with great regularity having broken into double digits in terms of assists in the Portuguese league in two of his three full seasons at Porto.
Role at Inter
Taremi seems the perfect signing for Inter this summer. They do need another striker in their squad as Alexis Sánchez and Marko Arnautović have not been in the best of form and look set to leave at the end of their contracts this summer.
Taremi’s well-roundedness means he alone might be able to replace both of them. Simone Inzaghi encourages his strikers to be dynamic in their movement and positioning in his favoured 3-5-2 formation, but they do end up operating in slightly different roles. Marcus Thuram tends to be the one who leads the line more and often runs in behind, while Lautaro Martínez drops into the space opened up between the lines and sees the ball at his feet more.
The Iranian international should be able to play both roles, so ideally Inter will hope to manage their forwards’ game time by picking any two of their three rather than having a clear first-choice strike partnership as they have done this season. Besides load management, Taremi should also help Inzaghi tweak his game plans for different types of opposition depending on who he starts alongside.
Of course, there is no such thing as a completely free transfer in football as players command hefty wages, but Taremi should surely prove to be worth every cent of his reported €3 million annual salary.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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