Are Inter having second thoughts about selling Fredy Guarin?

It wouldn't be a proper transfer rumor without a few back-and-forths, confirmations, denials, fake news, Tancredi BOOMs, now, would it? So here we go again with Fredy Guarin.

To recap, the original rumor claimed we bid £12m, which we then increased to £15m (€18m). This was confirmed by Guarin's agent and at least one major media outlet in Italy went on to claim that the deal to Chelsea was all but done already.

Obviously, that's not quite the case since neither club have announced anything yet. There's no rush to be fair; the transfer window hasn't even opened yet.

On Sunday, Fredy played in the Milan Derby, in a match that many billed his "potentially final" match for Inter. Appropriately enough, he put in an excellent performance in the 1-0 win for the Nerazzurri, easily looking like Inter's best player for large portions. Following the match, the Italian media caught up with some of the key figures in this whole mini-saga.

Inter president Erick Thohir:

[Guarin] was one of the best players today and I will raise the matter with the coach and sports director, if we should let him leave or not, but we must build a better Inter.

Manager Walter Mazzarri:

Have we already sold Guarin? Who to? That's something you need to ask the club. Besides, the transfer window isn't even open yet. We'll take stock of things after this game. Could Lavezzi join if Guarin leaves? I don't like playing along with these games. Guarin is improving a lot and he's had a great season so far.

And the man himself:

I haven't spoken to Mourinho. My agent has done that. I hope that Inter are thinking about how much I really want to stay here. There is something going on, I can definitely not deny that. But now I focus only on Inter and to do well here, we'll see in the future.

Where does all that leave us? Somewhere yet nowhere? Nowhere obvious, that's for sure.

If Inter are having second thoughts about selling a player who just proclaimed his desire to "really want to stay" and especially one who just helped them to a key derby victory, we could hardly fault them. Of course neither Thohir nor Mazzarri ruled out the possibility of a sale, with the president's goal of building a better Inter a vague enough declaration of being achievable both by Guarin staying and Guarin leaving.

Why oh why did you have to play so well, Fredy?