Inter Milan are the first side to cotton on.

Inter Milan have become the first side to cotton on to how to deal with the Real Madrid spending fiasco. The Italian champions have quoted the Spanish shoppers a price of £80 million for front man, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. This means that if Real want to sign their man then they will have to pay the same price that they have just offered Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo.

It appears that Jose Mourinho is no mug and this news is the first bit of evidence that the Italian giants are the first to know how to handle the Madrid spending spree. Madrid seem intent on buying their way back to success and out of trouble and are looking to poach the best players from sides all over Europe.

The way to combat this is quite simple; think of the most ridiculous price that you would accept for each player and then quote that figure. This is exactly what Inter have done and it is the best proof yet that a club is standing up to Madrid and is refusing to be pushed around over their best talent.

It is highly unlikely that anyone at Madrid would rate Ibrahimovic in the same light as Ronaldo and Inter may have priced Madrid out of the market for their front man. It is quite a simple and clever tactic that has been used by Mourinho that allows the club to state that a player is not for sale in the only way that Madrid would understand.

By setting the price so high, they are effectively saying that their best player is their most valuable asset and a high price tag seems to be the only way to put Madrid off. If United had said that they wanted £130 million for Ronaldo then Florentino Perez may not have been so happy in signing a monumental cheque. It is completely pointless clubs selling off their best assets to a side that is deploying themselves in black and white.

This news could also prompt Madrid in having to reorganise slightly in the respect that it is likely to make other clubs adopt the same idea. They will already have a price in mind for many of their players but once they know Madrid are interested then they can put a few million on top because of the way Madrid are acting in the summer transfer market.

It is an incredibly backward way for football to be run but it is the only way to stop Madrid sniffing around a player in the same way that they did with Ronaldo, until they ultimately got their way. It seems that price tags are the only thing the Spanish side have come to understand and this may well spark light bulbs in the heads of many important people at big clubs.

Fair play to Mourinho for using some initiative to try and get a mega deal that would have seen a player sold for drastically more than he is actually worth. Madrid will now have to be careful with their next targets as clubs could now look to take advantage in mega proportions.