Simone Inzaghi assures Inter ‘will be competitive’ for the Scudetto, while the club will ‘fight to bring Romelu Lukaku back’ from Chelsea and hints at Andre Onana’s potential replacement.
This will be his third campaign at San Siro and few can argue the previous two weren’t successful, bringing two Coppa Italia trophies, two editions of the Supercoppa Italiana and reaching the Champions League Final against Manchester City.
“We had a season of 57 games, which was long, intense, brought trophies and victories, but also difficult moments that we did well to overcome,” said the coach in his press conference for the start of pre-season training.
“We started with a lot of hunger for another intense campaign and hope to satisfy our fans, who have already bought all the available season tickets.”
While Inzaghi won four trophies in two years, he has never managed to lift the Scudetto in his career and that is the next logical step.
“The DNA of Inter is that of victory and the Scudetto is the main objective for many clubs. We are Inter and will give our all. It had been quite some time that Inter didn’t have a coach for three years or more, so I feel very proud.
“I think we showed in the Final against Manchester City that there wasn’t such a big difference between us. We were very sad to lose, but we played a very even game.”
Marcus Thuram, Davide Frattesi and Yann Bisseck have arrived, but the negotiations continue to bring Lukaku back permanently from Chelsea.
“I am totally in sync with the directors and the President. We all know what Lukaku represents, what he did in the second half of the season, we fought to bring him back and will try to do it again, but right now he belongs to a different club.”
The transfer window remains open and more changes are expected, as after Marcelo Brozovic was sold to Al-Nassr, negotiations continue between Onana and Manchester United.
“The transfer market is unpredictable, so in 10 days’ time we might have lost some players and signed others. It’s not helpful, but we are used to it.
“Many lads have left who wrote history here, like Samir Handanovic, Raoul Bellanova, Brozovic, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Edin Dzeko, Roberto Gagliardini and Milan Skriniar. We decided to bring down the average age of the squad and we hope the new arrivals will make history too.”
Inzaghi was asked outright if it would be worth the sacrifice of selling Onana so that Inter could have Lukaku.
“We are talking about Onana, who is an Inter player and will be called up for training. The transfer market is unpredictable and all the Italian clubs must sell before buying, but I am sure we will have a competitive Inter. I have been assured of that.”
Samir Handanovic and Alex Cordaz have been released after their contracts expired on June 30, so Inter will need to buy at least one goalkeeper, probably two.
“We need to find goalkeepers who are good with the ball at their feet, so those who arrive will have those characteristics.”
Among his hopes for the midfield was Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who instead left Lazio for Al-Hilal and the Saudi Pro League.
“I worked with him at Lazio, he is a player with great quality, technique and physical strength. He made a personal choice to go to Saudi Arabia, but he is still young and has time to come back to Europe.”
I don’t understand the obsession with bringing him back, he really isn’t very good anymore
there is really no plan B for Lukaku, they are desperate