Inter chief Piero Ausilio assures they “never even started negotiations” with Napoli for Mauro Icardi, but is “in football love with Domenico Berardi.”
The director of sport gave a lengthy interview with the Corriere dello Sport newspaper and touched on the summer transfer sagas, including Wanda Nara’s seeming ability to negotiate Icardi’s future via Twitter.
Inter chief Piero Ausilio assures they “never even started negotiations” with Napoli for Mauro Icardi, but is “in football love with Domenico Berardi.”
The director of sport gave a lengthy interview with the Corriere dello Sport newspaper and touched on the summer transfer sagas, including Wanda Nara’s seeming ability to negotiate Icardi’s future via Twitter.
“Were we close to selling Icardi to Napoli? Never. We didn’t even start negotiations,” declared Ausilio.
“It’s also obvious we were planning to renew Icardi’s contract anyway. He is our captain and one of the best strikers on the world stage. He has a deal that expires in 2019 and only a crazy person wouldn’t have laid the foundations for a rapid extension in such a delicate situation.
“Negotiations with Mauro and his management, regardless of all the media furore, have been going on for some time on a more linear basis.”
What was the most difficult deal of the summer for Inter?
“Certainly Joao Mario, because he had just been crowned European Champion with Portugal, was locked down by a €60m release clause and owned by a club that generally doesn’t give discounts. I’ve been tracking Joao Mario since 2012 and Kia Joorabchian only became his agent a few months ago, so it’s not true that he’s been influencing our transfer strategy.
“It was no picnic negotiating with (Lazio President Claudio) Lotito for Antonio Candreva either.”
Is there a move that fell through that particularly galled Ausilio?
“I can’t say it didn’t go through, because technically we never started negotiations, but a player I am in love with – in football terms – is Berardi.
“Could I call Sassuolo in future? We’ll see… hoping nobody gets offended…”
Juventus have an option to buy Berardi for €25m, but the player and two clubs agreed not to activate it this summer.
The Bianconeri certainly have the advantage in future, but it remains to be seen whether the same option is still valid or can spark a bidding war.
Is it true that in the last few days of the transfer session, Inter were close to signing one of the following players: Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Manchester United) and Domenico Criscito (Zenit)?
“More than one I’d say… half,” smiled Ausilio. “We evaluated some situations that were proposed to us, but then nothing came of them.
“The January transfer window is always a little odd, because there are only so many players available and we can only consider quality players who really will bring something extra to the team.”
If Inter fail to qualify for the Champions League, would this season be considered a failure?
“It would be negative, because the objective is to get back into the Champions League, but at the same time we must realise that this summer we started from scratch and a delay can happen in a winning project.”