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Goran Slavkovski thought someone was trying to stitch him up when he was told that he was going to make his debut (per Inter.it): "At first I thought it was a joke, then I realised it was true."

You know who wasn't joking?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who informed Juventus of his intention to leave in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal (from Gazzetta dello Sport via CNN.com).

96 days after Slavkovski made his Serie A debut, Mino Raiola—Zlatan's agent—engineered a €24.8 million transfer to take his client from the Bianconeri to the Nerazzurri (from Agence France-Presse via The Nation).

Instead of Slavkovski being Inter's answer to Ibrahimovic, the club now had the original.

There was also a prodigy named Mario Barwuah Balotelli, a 6'2 Palermo-born Italian with Ghanaian roots, who was scoring goals in bucket-loads at Allievi Nazionali (U-17) level.

Slavkovski was having a hard time displacing Sebastian Ribas in the Primavera squad and now the counterfeit Ibra had to compete with the real deal in Balotelli (per Inter.it; April 28, 2007):

Sixteen-year-old striker Mario Balotelli scored both goals for Vincenzo Esposito's team [in a 2-1 home victory over Genoa]. Balotelli, who scored 18 goals for the academy's Under-17 side earlier this season before joining the senior youth team, slotted home his sixth of the campaign and Inter's winning goal in the 78th minute after a cross by captain Simone Fautario.





Slavkovski was an unused sub in the Primavera Milan derby [1] and the Primavera Super Cup game vs. Juventus.

In addition, he missed the Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti due to injury.

By now, Slavkovski was probably regretting his decision to extend his Inter Milan contract by three years.

The previous December, Manchester United were reportedly interested in his services (from Clubcall.com via SI.com).

No surprise that his agent was attempting to create an exit route (from Tuttomercatoweb via Tribalfootball.com):

Slavkovski is a promising youngster and Inter are well aware of that, so he won't be sold outright. Manchester United and Panathinaikos haven't confirmed their interest, so at the moment Le Mans are at the head of the queue. Feyenoord have cooled off somewhat and a Serie B side could be a better path, especially as Goran wants to stay in Italy.

[1] Saint-Etienne's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made a cameo appearance for AC Milan.