Sunderland will have to pay Inter €10.5m for Ricardo Alvarez after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against the Black Cats, according to Sky Italia.
The Black Cats have been battling against Inter's claim for the fee, which was due automatically if the English club avoided relegation from the Premier League during the season Alvarez was on loan at the Stadium of Light, the 2014/15 campaign.
Sunderland did avoid the drop, but tried to avoid paying Inter the fee to buy Alvarez permanently because they argued he was not fit enough to be signed.
Inter launched legal proceedings and now, it appears, the Nerazzurri have won their case.
As such, Sunderland will have to pay Inter a fee of €10.5m, with their case that Alvarez's knee was not up to being signed and Inter should have operated on him, having failed.
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FIFA had earlier ruled in Inter's favour, but Sunderland chose to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in Switzerland.
Due to the saga, Alvarez was without a club for six months before he linked up with Sampdoria at the start of 2016.
Now 29, the midfielder has won nine caps for Argentina.
