Erick Thohir has outlined that he has clarified ‘everything’ with Massimo Moratti, as he refuses to set Inter a target for next season before the summer market.
Thohir was seen as having upset former President Moratti, with the latter’s comments over the weekend that the club ‘did not need healing’ as the Indonesian had implied in a number of interviews.
Erick Thohir has outlined that he has clarified ‘everything’ with Massimo Moratti, as he refuses to set Inter a target for next season before the summer market.
Thohir was seen as having upset former President Moratti, with the latter’s comments over the weekend that the club ‘did not need healing’ as the Indonesian had implied in a number of interviews.
However, on from Moratti’s words cooling the situation yesterday, the current President has also looked to iron out any perceived issues.
“I spoke to Mr Moratti about everything. I talked to him [Sunday] morning, when I landed in London,” explained Thohir to reporters yesterday evening, upon arriving in Italy.
“What I believe the misunderstanding comes from is that I never said anything about the club being unhealthy.
“What I said is that we need to be healthier – which is also what Mr. Moratti has said too – by creating more revenue. Because when you talk about, for example, the English Premier League, the three newly promoted clubs can reach revenues of £110m. And this is for the bottom three clubs.
“And so how do we compete? Of course we need to create more revenue. So this is what Moratti and I have spoken about.
“We need to make the club healthier in that area. We need to create more revenue, but not because Inter is unhealthy.
“Of course if someone attacks Inter then I will stand up for Inter as Moratti has done. And because of what we’re doing now we’re one of the good clubs – paying all of our players, we have no problems with transfer windows, we have good discussions with the banks, our suppliers, the agents.
“So this is what I think the mistake was about the 'healthy' things. But actually Mr Moratti and I have a similar understanding of what being healthy means. Because we need to create more revenue. So there’s no problem with these issues.”
Thohir was asked if it was normal for he and Moratti to differ over philosophy in running the club.
“No, I don’t think so. Because since the beginning of our venture we’ve had an understanding,” responded the President in comments run on Inter’s official website.
“I don’t want to have 100 per cent of the club. Because in every business I’ve had I’ve always had local partners. And to have Mr Moratti and his family as local partners is incredible. Because you then have an advantage in many countries.
“The Moratti family has a good name, they’re respectable, and then you have what he’s done with the club in the last 18 years.
“This is just my first step, and I don’t think I can compete. And I don’t want to be compared to him. I don’t think I can compete for the treble next season.”
Thohir was asked again about transfer plans and where they may take the Nerazzurri on the pitch next term.
“When I was in Lisbon the media asked me this question. It all depends on the summer transfer market. For example, it’s not fair for me to say to the Coach: ‘Coach Mazzarri, this is your target’, when we don’t even know who is going to be playing for us.
“And at the same time, I don’t want to promise anybody, the fans or our partners, a target that we cannot achieve.
“What we wanted this season, since the beginning of the season, was to get into Europe. And although we finished in fifth we still did it. I think that’s the most important thing. There was a belief in the club that we could have finished fourth, but we missed some chances.”