If you want to rank the flops among Inter Milan's foreign players in the club's history, Portuguese player Quaresma would surely have a place. In the summer of 2008, he transferred to Inter Milan for a fee of 30 million euros and became that year's top-priced signing in Serie A. However, over the course of two seasons, he failed to prove his worth, and even his loan spell at Chelsea didn't lead to any significant success. Ultimately, this summer, he was sold by Inter Milan to Besiktas for only 7 million euros, a sharp drop in value. However, after moving to Turkey, Quaresma has regained his confidence and form. Recently, during an interview with the Portuguese newspaper *Público*, the Portuguese player admitted that he regrets joining Inter Milan, and even Mourinho, who pushed hard for his signing, couldn't help him.
Quaresma's performance in Turkey has indeed been surprising, showing a stark contrast to his time at Inter Milan. According to statistics, Quaresma has already played in 15 games for Besiktas this season, contributing 4 goals and 7 assists—impressive numbers. For such a Quaresma, no one is happier than Besiktas and their coach, Bernd Schuster. Another star player on the team, Guti, has also praised Quaresma highly in other settings. Within Schuster's tactical system, Quaresma plays with increasing skill and confidence. Although the team currently sits sixth in the Turkish Super League, they still hold hope for qualifying for next season's Champions League. It’s easy to imagine that if there’s an opportunity to play in the Champions League next season and face Inter Milan or Real Madrid in the same group, Quaresma might make them regret their decision.
"My biggest regret is joining Inter Milan. There, happiness and confidence left me completely. For a while, I wasn’t even included in the matchday squad, and I felt marginalized. Sometimes when I woke up, I couldn’t help but cry, but I still had to go to training," Quaresma said during the interview with *Público*.
"Mourinho said on TV that I was intimidated by Inter Milan's fans. But I want to say that I’ve never been afraid of them. Now I’m in Turkey, where media pressure is much greater than in Italy, and I’ve never been afraid of the fans." Quaresma indicated that Mourinho had some responsibility for his struggles, leaving him feeling helpless: "I lived a strange life in Italy; only when I closed my eyes could I feel slightly better. But now, I can be happy even with my eyes open."
In the summer of 2008, Mourinho first became Inter Milan's head coach and then requested that the club buy Quaresma from Porto to fit his 4-3-3 formation. However, after Inter Milan spent approximately 30 million euros to bring Quaresma in, Mourinho failed to utilize him effectively, making him one of the biggest jokes in Serie A that season. In January 2009, Quaresma went to Chelsea on loan due to a lack of opportunities at Inter Milan, but he struggled there as well, often playing in the reserve team. Last season, after returning to Inter Milan, Quaresma showed signs of improvement, but injuries again hindered his progress. Quaresma believes all of this was caused by Mourinho: "Even now, I can't understand many things about him (Mourinho). When I arrived in Milan, I realized that Inter Milan wanted to sign me entirely because of Mourinho. But suddenly, I couldn't get on the field. Of course, I admit that my physical condition wasn't good at the time. Watching game footage, I couldn’t even find myself. But since it was him who insisted on bringing me over from Portugal, why did he do nothing when I needed help?"