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Muntari seals Inter switch

Image: Muntari: Inter switch

Sulley Muntari has completed his move to Inter Milan from Portsmouth and has signed a four-year deal.

Midfielder's arrival ends Serie A side's Lampard interest

Sulley Muntari has completed his move to Inter Milan from Portsmouth and has signed a four-year deal with the Italian champions. The Ghana international established himself as a key member of Harry Redknapp's side following his £7million move from Udinese last summer and helped the Fratton Park side lift the FA Cup in May. Muntari emerged as a target of new Inter boss Jose Mourinho last week and has now sealed his return to Serie A for an undisclosed fee. His arrival looks to have ended Mourinho's interest in Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard this summer, with the club insisting that there will be no more new arrivals before the transfer window closes.

Painful

Lampard, who has one year remaining on his current Stamford Bridge contract, had been strongly linked with a move to the Giuseppe Meazza, but the Blues rebuffed all offers for the England international. Inter director Gabriele Oriali said: "Muntari is the last buy. "Now we will work on trimming the squad because Mourinho wants 22 players and three goalkeepers. There will be some painful goodbyes." After missing out on Lampard, Mourinho admitted he had no problem with the former West Ham ace electing to remain in London. He said: "I'm not disappointed in him, the important thing for a player is to do what's best for him. "If his choice is to stay at Chelsea because he is happier, that's OK with me."
Too many
And the former Blues boss confirmed that he would be looking to reduce his squad before the start of the new season. The Portuguese tactician added: "We have too many and it's not an easy situation, we need to reduce the squad to 25 players. "For the moment, we have too many forwards and we can't give them all as much playing time as we would like." Despite Inter's large squad, they have problems in central defence with three key players currently on the treatment table. "The thing that I'm not happy about up until now is the absence of three players in the same position, that's to say (Cristian) Chivu, (Ivan) Cordoba and (Walter) Samuel," added Mourinho.

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