The Dejan Stankovic saga is finally over after he completed his proposed move from Lazio to Inter.
The Serbian international, who only had six months left on his capital contract, has departed in a £3m deal.
Inter had been in negotiations with Lazio for the past month after the midfielder, also wanted by Juventus, said he’d love to join the Nerazzurri.
However, talks had seemingly stalled over the past week with Lazio boss Roberto Mancini insisting that the former Red Star Belgrade player would stay until the summer.
Yet the move was back on this morning when it was noted that Stankovic was not at Lazio’s Formello training complex with the rest of the squad.
He’d flown out of Fiumicino airport this morning with Milan as his destination in a bid to conclude the deal.
Stankovic has put pen to paper on a contract with the club that will tie him to the San Siro side until 30 June 2008.
The arrival of Stankovic will be of great use to Alberto Zaccheroni who had often admitted that he was lacking a quality attacking midfielder.
It now gives Zac the possibility to field Stankovic behind the front two of Christian Vieri and Adriano in a 3-4-1-2 formation.
Stankovic is Inter’s second big signing in January after the club also netted Adriano from Parma in a £16m deal two weeks ago.
It’s also been confirmed that Lazio will receive Goran Pandev from Inter, as part of the deal, in the summer once his loan spell with Ancona ends.
Stankovic will be given the No 11 shirt and boss Alberto Zaccheroni has admitted he may feature against Siena tomorrow.
"If he is in good shape then he could play straight away," stated Zac. "However, he will need to train with us today otherwise it will be tough for me to select him.
"Stankovic is a player that I know well seeing as I was with him at Lazio. He’s an attacking midfielder who with time could become an excellent central midfielder."
Lazio boss Roberto Mancini, who yesterday insisted that the midfielder would remain, was obviously disappointed.
"We’ve lost a great player," he stated. "I was convinced that he would stay until the summer but the decision was made by the club.
"We must now just look to the future. Lazio remain a strong side and I’m convinced we can still finish in the top four and win the Coppa Italia."
However, there may be further bad news for the capital side. Whispers suggest that Inter have also netted an option to sign Jaap Stam in the summer as part of the Stan deal.
Stankovic - still just 25 - spent six seasons with Lazio, where he scored 22 goals in 137 games.
Stankovic signs for Inter
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