TEMPO.CO, Milan - Inter Milan general director Marco Fassone has announced his club’s interest in Chelsea striker Fernando Torres in the 2014 summer transfer.

“He is one of the names that interests us,” Fassone said. “Our President Erick Thohir admitted as much in recent days. You will discover in due course who the player is that we will focus on.”

Inter needs a world-class striker such as Torres to replace Diego Milito who has been eroded by old age. The Argentinian striker will be released when his contract expires at the end of this season. Inter also needs Torres if it breaks through Europa League next season.

With Chelsea, Torres has won Champions League and Europea League two years in a row. “Our goal at the moment is to get into the Europa League. It would be a problem if a club like Inter did not play in Europe for two successive seasons,” said Fassone.

Fassone did not explain how much money had been prepared by Inter to get Torres to Giuseppe Meazza. Chelsea brought in Torres with a price of up to 50 million pounds or around Rp956.65 billion from Liverpool in January 2011.

Throughout this season, Torres has not performed well under Jose Mourinho. The 30-year-old striker has only scored nine goals from 35 matches in various competitions with Chelsea.

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