Inter director Piero Ausilio admits he would sign Romelu Lukaku again ‘but only on loan’ and confirms the Nerazzurri were in talks to sign Marcus Thuram in the summer.
Lukaku returned to Chelsea from Inter in a €115m deal last summer. The Belgian striker had scored 64 goals in 95 games with the Serie A giants.
His agent Federico Pastorello claimed last week that Lukaku would return to Serie A one day as he is in love with Italy. Would Ausilio sign him again at Inter?
“Yes, but only on loan,” the Inter director said smiling during an interview with Sky Sport Italia.
Lukaku followed the likes of Antonio Conte and Achraf Hakimi away from San Siro, while the Nerazzurri had to find a replacement for Christian Eriksen, who suffered cardiac arrest during the Euros.
“The situation wasn’t as bad as it was described, but losing Conte, Lukaku, Eriksen and Hakimi could have killed anyone, but not Inter, you can’t give up after the first difficulty,” Ausilio continued.
“We felt confused when Lukaku asked us to leave because the player we had sacrificed on the market was Hakimi. However, we didn’t give up, we spoke to the coach and we picked the right players in [Edin] Dzeko and [Joaquin] Correa.
“We need to last in time, we need economic stability, but we also need to keep the quality high. Inter will never be weaker after a transfer window. We are in direct contact with the owners and the team is focused on the daily work.
“In terms of revenues, the gap between Serie A and Premier League is huge. It’s hard to compete against West Ham or Leicester City, not just the top clubs.”
Ausilio doesn’t expect a busy January transfer window for the Nerazzurri: “We are competitve, the number of players we have is perfect, things can only change if one of the players who are not getting regular playing time ask to leave,” he said.
“We were in talks to sign Thuram in the summer, but now we are happy with our team.”
Inter have recently extended with Lautaro Martinez, Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolò Barella.
They hope to do the same with Marcelo Brozovic, Federico Dimarco, Samir Handanovic and Ivan Perisic.
Handanovic, Brozovic and Perisic see their contract expire at the end of the campaign.
“We finalised three important operations and now we are in talks with Brozovic. Soon we will sit down with Perisic and Handanovic as well. We are also in talks with Dimarco and both parties are happy to continue together.”
Se riprenderei Lukaku all'Inter? Ausilio sorride e risponde: "In prestito sì" https://t.co/x8fxYPajvu
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) December 17, 2021
Great answers as always from Piero.
Ginter next please on a free. Insigne/Belotti will be also free.
I wouldn’t trust this guys Judgement at all……In the Nainggolan deal, you know, the one where Roma raped Inter for 26 mill + Zaniolo…….Roma actually wanted Radu from Inter and Ausilio said no and Inter insisted that they take Zaniolo……now Radu is a lost cause as they will point to Onana for the future and Zaniolo is worth as much as the money and Nainggolan combined !!!
@I MISS MARCO BRANCA. Hmm actually Zaniolo isn’t that great at Roma for these last two seasons. Injuries and off the pitch matters hampered his growth. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him ended like Balotelli or Beppe Rossi.
@I MISS MARCO BRANCA AT INTER… you are actually wrong, Roma initially wanted Radu, Zaniolo and somebody else who I can’t remember. Roma never wanted Radu alone, so stop spreading craps. And it doesn’t matter if you trust Ausilio or not, nobody cares. Zhang and Bepe trust him and it’s enough for us. Ninja wasn’t great for us, granted, but Zaniolo has been a joke of player ever since he joined Roma, he can’t even stand on his feet! Piece if advise? You better think of Ramsey, Rabbiot and …oh my god your entire team!!!! Bring back Fabio Paratici, we missed him a lot already! Keep Nedved as well!
Good thing about the Nainggolan transfer is that Inter managed to get 9.5M for Davide Santon! His current value is 1M LOL.