Inter thinking about Marquez

Italian news site Virgilio claims that Barcelona central defender and Mexican international Rafael Márquez (29) is on a list managed by Inter Milan to strenghten their defence and midfield after the team has been hit by a large number of injuries during pre-season (read more here).

Márquez, whose contract with Barcelona expires in 2010 and who had decided to continue after talking with new Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola, would in the first place be seen as an option for the position of defensive midfielder.

During a meeting next week between Inter president Massimo Moratti, Inter manager José Mourinho and members of the technical department of the Italian champions the situation will be further analyzed and a decision will be taken about how to solve the squad problems.

Read more:

Inter is monitoring Marquez

How things stand: Central defenders

Guardiola convinced Marquez to stay

Inter goalkeeper linked with Barcelona

Different sources in Italy have been linking Inter Milan goalkeeper Júlio César (28) with Barcelona in the past days (read more here).

Italian sports paper Tuttosport claimed that Barcelona is searching a valid competitor for current regular goalkeeper Víctor Váldes and that Inter would be willing to consider a transfer of Júlio César cause the club wants to rejuvenate their squad.

Meanwhile, Italian news site Virgilio claimed that Barcelona would be ready to pay between 12 and 15 million euro (°) for the Brazilian international. Although Inter does not really plan to let go Júlio César, they would already be looking for a substitute, with Almería goalkeeper Diego Alves being mentioned as an important option, in case the player would like to move to Spain.