Barcelona right-back Martin Montoya has joined Inter Milan on a two-year loan deal.
“FC Barcelona player Martin Montoya Torralbo has been loaned to the Italian club FC Internazionale for one season,” read a Barca statement. “The two clubs have agreed that the loan contract shall be automatically renewed for a further season if the player appears in a certain number of games. At the end of the second season, Inter shall retain an option to sign the player on a permanent basis.”
Montoya was considered as the potential replacement for Dani Alves after the latter refused to negotiate for a new contract with Barcelona throughout the season and looked all set to leave the club. But Alves eventually signed a two-year deal with Barca at the end of the season. The €5.5 million summer 2014 signing of another Brazilian right-back Douglas pushed Montoya even more down the pecking order.
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Montoya’s desire to leave Barcelona was expressed by his agent, Juan de Dios Carrasco, during the winter transfer window. He told Calciomercato, in quotes picked up by AS, “We are waiting on Barcelona to give a green light to the operation, but Montoya is 100 percent with Inter. It will be a two-year loan, but I cannot talk of numbers. We already have an agreement, but we have to wait. Montoya is ready to fly to Milan when it is over.”
The recent signing of Aleix Vidal, who also can play as a right back, has also dented Montoya’s hopes of making into Luis Enrique’s first team, with the manager clearly stating that the Barcelona youth product will not be a part of his plans for the 2015/16 season.
“Luis Enrique told me he wouldn’t be relying on me. I realised I had to leave when I saw the club had renewed Dani Alves’s contract and signed Aleix Vidal,” Montoya explained about his departure from Barcelona on Thursday.
The reports of a move were fuelled after Inter published a photo of club president Erick Thohir welcoming the Montoya to Milan’s Malpensa airport on Thursday morning.
Montoya completed his medical examination on Thursday prior to signing with the Italian team for the next two seasons.
