Mauro Zarate‘s agent has confirmed Inter Milan are interested in signing the Lazio forward.

The San Siro outfit are in need of a replacement for Samuel Eto’o after his transfer to Anzhi Makhachkala and have targeted the Argentine forward.

“Mauro is currently a Lazio player, if there is real interest from a team that decides to invest significant resources it will not go away,” agent Giuseppe Bozzo told Sportitalia.

The capital club are thought to be willing to part with the striker on loan initially, but with a mandatory clause stating Inter will purchase the player for around €20 million at the end of the 2011-12 season.

“[Lazio] president Claudio Lotito feels there is no need to give away the player,” added Bozzo. “Now there is an expression of interest from Inter, we will make a decision calmly.”

It seems as if Zarate’s time in Rome is almost over after Lazio coach Edy Reja confirmed he refused to play in the Europa League qualifier against Rabotnicki.

“Zarate was the one who pulled out of that game,” Reja told the press. “As far as I was concerned, he’s part of our UEFA list. It’s not the first time he has behaved this way.

“It seems to me he wants to leave, so perhaps didn’t want to block a transfer by making himself cup-tied.”

Zarate joined the Aquile in the summer of 2008 from Qatar side Al Sadd.