FILE: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Chelsea's Hernan Crespo signs two-year loan deal with Inter Milan

Inter Milan have signed a loan deal to get Chelsea's Argentina striker Hernan Crespo back to the San Siro, the Italian club said on Monday (August 7). Crespo spent the 2002-03 season at Inter before joining Chelsea for 8 million pounds (32 million U.S. dollars) and has now signed a two-year contract, the Serie A club said on its official website. No money changed hands in the deal, but the English champions have retained an option to get Crespo back after one season. Crespo is one of the game's top strikers, but has failed to settle in London. He was loaned out by Chelsea in 2004-05 to Inter's local rivals AC Milan, scoring twice when they were beaten by Liverpool in the Champions League final. The 31-year-old had a better time last term with the Blues, when they won a second consecutive Premier League title. He would have faced tougher competition for a starting place this season at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea signed striker Andriy Shevchenko -- from AC Milan. AC Milan has been docked points by an Italian sports tribunal because of a match-rigging scandal and was only allowed back into the Champions League by UEFA because the association does not have the legal grounds to bar the six-times European champions.

ITN Source | August 8, 2006

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