The Sporting Director of Venezia says that midfielder Tanner Tessmann was closer to joining Inter Milan than Fiorentina in the summer.
The newly-promoted club’s Sporting Director Filippo Antonelli spoke about the US international’s transfer during the summer in a press conference, as reported by FCInterNews.
In the end, midfielder Tessmann joined Lyon.
The 22-year-old made the switch to the Ligue 1 side in the last couple weeks of the summer transfer window.
However, Lyon had been far from the only club that had showed an interest in Tessmann.
Venezia Sporting Director: “Tanner Tessmann Was Closer To Inter Than Fiorentina”
There was reportedly interest from Serie A clubs in signing Tessmann.
The first club to be strongly linked with the American was Inter.
Tessmann was certainly a surprise target for the Nerazzurri.
And it is not as though Inter were planning to sign the 22-year-old to make him part of their first team plans right away.
But the Nerazzurri reportedly wanted to sign Tessmann as a player for the longer term.
Reports indicate that the Nerazzurri were planning to sign the American and then loan him out. They had discussed the idea of loaning him back to Venezia in talks with the Venetian club.
In the end, however, Tessmann’s move to Inter did not pan out.
Reports suggested that the problem was that the Nerazzurri could not reach an agreement with the player and his representatives.
The same was true of Fiorentina. They had also seemingly come close to signing Tessmann, but couldn’t get the deal over the line.
Torino and Atalanta also showed interest.
Venezia Sporting Director Antonelli admitted that with the transfer soap opera, “We were starting to worry a bit, because of the fact that his contract is set to expire.”
“It’s true that he expressed a desire to leave,” the executive went on.
“And at the same time, it’s also true that he never said that he was considering leaving when his contract expired.”
Meanwhile, Antonelli was very open about the talks with Inter for Tessmann. “We finished up right away,” he said of the negotiations.
And regarding Fiorentina’s interest, he said that “He was much closer to joining Inter.”
