Xherdan Shaqiri praises new club Inter as a ‘winning team’ and says he prefers being a playmaker, but any role will be ‘just fine’.
The Swiss international joins the club in a moment of optimism, when his new Coach has declared that next year's target should be the Scudetto.
Xherdan Shaqiri praises new club Inter as a ‘winning team’ and says he prefers being a playmaker, but any role will be ‘just fine’.
The Swiss international joins the club in a moment of optimism, when his new Coach has declared that next year's target should be the Scudetto.
In being presented to the media alongside Roberto Mancini, the 23-year-old reflected that he already feels the support of the tifosi.
“Inter have supporters everywhere in the world and I've always known this,” said the former Bayern Munich playmaker.
“I noticed the Albanian supporters as I was born in Kosovo, the 'twin' of Albania.
“I trained all week with the team, I hope to play and I've got some good feelings.
“In football you can't make personal objectives. We go into the pitch to do our best and win. We're Inter and we must always think of winning.
“I'll try to play my part. It's not going to be easy to always win, but we'll try.
“I didn't need to speak with [Bayern Munich CEO] Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and I didn't speak much with [Coach Pep] Guardiola. They knew I wanted to leave.”
Shaqiri was also asked to compare the Allianz Arena with San Siro, his new stadium.
“There are some differences. San Siro is beautiful, but the downside is the number of spectators. I hope we can change things by playing some beautiful football.
“[Inter sporting director Piero] Ausilio already told me everything about the supporters, it's good that they wanted me so much and I noticed this against Genoa already.
“In Italy players don't score as much as in the Bundesliga, but we want to play a beautiful brand of football and score the highest number of goals.
“I think that when a player chooses a club they take into account the effort that is put into the transfer, and this was a factor that helped me choose Inter.
“I wanted to change countries. Now what counts are the results and bringing Inter back to the top.
“With Bayern I proved that I'm tactically flexible, so choosing my best role will come down to Mancini.
“Personally I prefer my role to be that of the playmaker, but any position will be just fine for me.”
Image via @inter