Inter Milan has been forced to sell prime young midfielders, Mateo Kovacic and Xherdan Shaqiri, due to the UEFA fair play laws. The Nerazzuri boss, Roberto Mancini, confirmed the sale of the young Croat and Swiss internationals because of the fair play rule. Inter is said to have accepted a €35m offer for the 21-year-old midfielder Kovacic, who is expected back in Madrid to sign a five-year contract worth €4m per season with Real. This comes as Inter had earlier spent €40m on Geoffrey Kondogbia this summer, and with Stevan Jovetic and Martin Montoya among those joining the wage bill, Mancini said the sale was to make the club comply with Uefa legislation. “What can you do? There are rules to respect. There is FFP and I don’t think any of us wanted this but unfortunately we have to follow Uefa’s impositions,” he said to Mediaset Premium after Inter’s friendly draw with AEK. “This doesn’t mean we’re not trying to make a team that can fight without him. “We’re all disappointed, from the president, to me, the directors and his team-mates. “Both he and Shaqiri left for the same reason. But we’ll do other things. We hope to take in players that suit us. “We’ll see what happens.” Mancini was however optimistic about his side’s chances this season despite losing another pre-season friendly game. “There were some difficulties, but that’s normal,” he added. “There were good things in the first half, we did better in defence, the defenders have improved by playing together.” Mancini has been Inter Milan’s manager since 2014 having formerly been in charge of Galatassary and Manchester City.