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Marco
Materazzi
The Italian international defender
joined Internazionale for the start of the 2001-2002
season for £6m after agreeing terms with Perugia
mid-way through the previous season.
Materazzi's
earlier career revolved around the Umbrian club
whom he first joined back in the 1995-96 season
and with whom he spent three spells, one of which
after a relative failure in the English Premier
League with Everton, where the pace and aggression
of the game never suited him.
Some
impressive performances for Perugia at the start
of last season had several big clubs waiting in
the wings but proposed moves to Juventus and Bayern
Munich never materialised.
Materazzi
made the transition to the national side, as he
stepped into the team for their friendly game against
South Africa in April 2001. He subsequently appeared
in Italy's 1-0 win over Hungary in their 2002 World
Cup qualifying game.
He
had hoped to play alongside Laurent Blanc, but the
French international's departure to Manchester United
at the start of the season means that he is now
an automatic first choice in the centre of the Inter
defence. Perugia's top scorer last season, Materazzi
is likely to find goals harder to come by at Inter
as he is unlikley to be given the chance to take
the free-kicks and penalties as he was at Perugia.
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