What’s Wrong Inter?
The Marriage Between Inter & Conte Lives Another Day
Things are not going too well for Inter at the moment in the close season. First, there was the drama of Antonio Conte’s future after the Europa League final defeat to Sevilla. Will he stay or will he go? He stayed on after a three-hour meeting the CEO, Steven Zhang and the directors. For the sake of stability, Conte staying on is the right decision but he has his flaws. If he had left, I am sure the club had an able replacement ready to replace him and it could have been a good decision.
Signing Oldies
The reason I am writing this is that it seems now that it was a mistake keeping Conte on. Instead of pushing on to strengthen the squad for next season, we look to be heading backwards trying to please him. There are very strong rumours that we are going to sign Aleksandar Kolarov. Cristiano Biraghi’s loan spell has not been extended or converted into a permanent transfer. With a 35-year-old, Ashley Young already at left wing-back, why would we need to sign a peer in that position? Kolarov would bring a winning mentality, steeliness and excellent free-kick taking quality but he doesn’t have the pace to be able to fulfil a physically challenging role at left wing-back. Surely, the best option is to sign a younger player that can last longer in the team.
Moving on to an area that needs reinforcement, the midfield. We played so well when we had Nicolo Barella, Marcelo Brozovic and Stefano Sensi together last season. The moment Barella and Sensi got injured, we struggled. We were expected to sign highly-rated Italian, Sandro Tonali from the winter transfer window. Despite agreeing terms with the player’s agent, we didn’t table an offer and we are going to lose him to our neighbours, AC Milan. Instead, we are after 33-year-old, Arturo Vidal. He brings tenacity and winning mentality to the team and offers something different in midfield. I wouldn’t mind us signing Vidal if we signed Tonali or someone of similar profile.
Why Vidal when there is Nainggolan?
We need an understudy for Brozovic. He is the most over-used players in midfield and even when he looks tired and below-par, we cannot afford to take him off and rest him. That is because we lack a suitable and valid understudy. Brozovic’s future too looks in doubt which I felt was going to be the case after his misdemeanours near the end of last season. I wouldn’t mind losing Brozovic and we re-invest it into a deep-lying playmaker in his 20s. We are also regaining Radja Nainggolan who is a year younger than Vidal. Both players are of a similar profile so why would we need two players of the same type? The answer to that, one knows the coach’s demands and style of play better than the other.
I am not opposed to signing veteran players if the player can still contribute and brings with him a winning mentality but that should not be the priority. Not at left wing-back or midfield. If we were to sign a veteran to be vice-Romelu Lukaku, I wouldn’t mind because Sebastiano Esposito is very young and raw. He needs some time out on loan to gain some playing time.
Save Us Marotta, Ausilio & Suning
Piero Ausilio came out to explain the transfer strategy and deepen the gloom further by saying that the club has no money to sign players. We will need to sell to sign and some players are up for sale like Ivan Perisic, Dalbert and Joao Mario. Maybe a couple more could be available too. What I don’t want is for Milan Skriniar to be sold. If we can’t get a suitable replacement for Brozovic, I don’t want him to be sold either. Inter has made good signings in the previous two summer transfer window and I hope Ausilio, Giuseppe Marotta and Suning Group can get it right again this time even if the rumoured targets do not enthuse me.
