Hakan Calhanoglu admitted that crossing from AC Milan to Inter Milan was not driven by money. Calhanoglu found a new life with Inter Milan, AC Milan’s arch rival.
Occupying the position of regista, aka game director, standing in front of the defense line, Calhanoglu’s performance blooms. His sharp game vision led Inter Milan to the top of the 2023-2024 Italian League standings. The team nicknamed Il Biscione (The Big Snake) is nine points ahead of Milan who is in third place.
Calhanoglu also grew to become a new idol for Inter supporters. On the other hand, Milan fans often attach the label of traitor to Calhanoglu, who is heading to Inter in 2021, after four years defending the banner of Il Rossoneri (The Red and Black).
Love is the reason Calhanoglu chose Inter. For the sake of Il Nerazzurri (The Black and Blue), Calhanoglu even admitted that he rejected a tempting offer from the Saudi Arabian club. “I chose not to leave because I love Inter. I have an important role. I am grateful to Inter because they made me develop,” said Calhanoglu, reported by Football Italia.
In the summer of 2021, Calhanoglu crossed over to Inter on a free transfer. At that time, Calhanoglu’s party reached an impasse in negotiating a contract extension with Milan. “Everyone thinks I left Milan because of the money. However, money is not everything. For me love is more important and that’s what I get from our supporters. This is something that will forever stay in my heart. I have many targets at Inter,” said Calhanoglu.
Since moving to Inter, Calhanoglu has often been the target of hatred from Milan fans. In fact, during the Milan scudetto parade in 2021-2022, the name Calhanoglu was used by Zlatan Ibrahimovic to provoke hate speech and anger from supporters.
However, Calhanoglu does not regret the move to Inter at all, even though until now he has not been able to win the Italian League title. “Milan fans said it was a mistake considering (Inter’s) failure to win the Scudetto in 2022? I wish them the best, but with patience we’ll see,” said the German-born Turkish midfielder.
