Veron joins Inter on loan

Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron will join Inter Milan from Chelsea on a season's loan, the Serie A club said on Thursday.

Veron, 29, is the first player to leave the west London premier league club since Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho promised a clearout after formally taking over on Wednesday.

A Chelsea statement said Veron would join the Milan club for a year from July 1 while Inter said he had "unreservedly accepted a pay cut" as part of the deal.

Veron played in Italy for Sampdoria, Parma and Lazio before moving to Manchester United for a British record fee of 28.1 million pounds ($51.56 million) in 2001.

He failed to shine at Old Trafford, finding it hard to adapt to the more physical premier league game. Manager Alex Ferguson favoured him for Champions League ties but often left him out of domestic matches.

Veron joined Chelsea from Manchester United in a 15 million-pound ($26 million) deal shortly after Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club last July, but endured a miserable season because of a back injury, making only 14 appearances.

"I'm very happy. I couldn't wait for this to happen so I can start dreaming again by wearing the blue and black shirt," Veron told Inter Channel in a telephone interview.

"I didn't think about money for this transfer, I only thought that it was important that Inter wanted me. I spoke with (Inter owner) Massimo Moratti, (president Giacinto) Facchetti and the directors and I said yes immediately."

As he looks to get his career back on track again Veron will find plenty of familiar faces at the San Siro.

Giuseppe Favalli, who signed for Inter earlier this week from Lazio, Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic and Argentine Matias Almeyda were all members of the Lazio side that inspired by Veron won the 2000 'scudetto' under Sven Goran Eriksson.

Inter captain Javier Zanetti and former Valencia winger Kily Gonzalez are both regulars alongside Veron in the Argentine national side.