He most certainly was not. Overrated. Why would Inter let him go and why are Southampton, Aston Villa and Liverpool the ones that are after him?
A lot of Inter fans are pretty angry they're letting him go, actually (Inter have said they're not selling him, but they're in crisis when it comes to FFP right now). His form and workrate has been bad ever since his injuries but before then they rated him highly, and he's still only 20, an age where many players are very inconsistent. The question is whether his injuries will affect him permanently.
I wouldn't sniff at players that Southampton and Liverpool target, considering they fit our moneyball profile too - young, 'bargain' due to some issue (contract circumstances, club in financial crisis, possible attitude issues), and preferably Continental style of play. Hence why we were all linked to Sigurdsson and Gaston Ramirez over the summer. (The other profile we have are the older Dempsey types - big stat figures, ready to come in right now, 'bargain' contract issues.)
Cortese, himself from a finance background, fancies himself a Levy type of chairman - ruthless, ambitious, and looking to set up the sustainable Ajax/Porto style of building up young starlets through the academy and careful poaching. Our glamour and budget is higher than Southampton's so we can buy a few more proven players at the same time, but we're also trying to snap up the 'potential' on the level just below players like Isco (40m buyout clause, destined for the Barc/Real/Manc clubs) - the promising types who see as us as a better guarantee of playing time than the big money clubs for the moment. So for me, it's not surprising we're wading through the same pool as Southampton, Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Swansea, Liverpool. Though I think we should be focusing our efforts on Germany and Spain/Portugal, considering Saudi Sportswashing Machine's domination of France atm.