Juventus sell Vieira to Inter for 12.11 million dollar

MILAN, Aug 2 (Reuters) Juventus have sold midfielder Patrick Vieira to Inter Milan for 12.11 million dollar -- less than half what they paid for the French international a year ago.

Juventus said in a statement that it booked a capital loss of 8.6 million euros on the sale, part of an exodus of players from the Turin club following a match-fixing scandal that led to their demotion to the second-tier Serie B league.

Juve bought Vieira in July 2005 for 20 million euros from Arsenal. He played for Juventus only for one season in 2005-06.

Vieira, a candidate to take over from Zinedine Zidane as captain of France's national side, is the latest player to leave Juventus after the club were relegated to Serie B for conspiring with referees and linesmen to rig games during last season.

Inter were awarded the 2005-06 Italian league title last week after a sports tribunal revoked Juventus's title win.

REUTERS PM SSC1309