Marotta can ‘rule out’ big sales in  the future: ‘I reassure our fans’

Inter CEO Beppe Marotta said he can ‘rule out’ any big departures in the future. ‘I reassure our fans, competitiveness is guaranteed’.

The Nerazzurri have been through financial difficulty and lost two of their biggest stars this summer.

But the reigning champions are still unbeaten in Serie A under Simone Inzaghi but have only picked up one point in the Champions League.

Marotta was asked about the problems in Europe and said the two competitions are completely different.

“The difference between Serie A and Champions League is that the second is a competition where you have to be in the best conditions,” Marotta said at the Festival dello Sport in Trento, according to Calciomercato.com

“The best teams don’t always win in the Champions League, while the strongest win in the League. Giro d’Italia is not Milan-Sanremo.

“We had regrets on the day of the elimination, but we moved the target by focusing on the Scudetto.”

Marotta spoke about Antonio Conte’s exit this summer and stressed the Nerazzurri ‘look ahead with optimism’.

“The final decision is the result of the comparisons of the days before. There was no common path, but it’s part of sport and life,” Marotta added. “If a person decides to interrupt a relationship, one must respect the decision and look ahead with optimism.

“Managers, players and coaches pass, but the club remains. We must go forward with the awareness of being a great club and that those professionals had won the Scudetto with great merit.”

Marotta then spoke about the job of ‘identifying’ the best replacement for the former coach and the decision was to bring former Lazio tactician Simone Inzaghi to San Siro.

“Conte’s decision was not so predictable,” Marotta added. “It surprised us a bit and thus we had to act promptly, identifying the best profile.

“We found it in a young coach, who already has an important path behind him. He was negotiating with Lazio, that’s when we presented our programme and the seriousness of a project he married immediately.

“We started again with a coach who could follow Conte’s tactical model.”

Inter went through financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic but Marotta has reassured the fans by excluding any significant sales in the future.

“The pandemic has accelerated the process,” he said. “Inter, Milan and Juventus have lost a total of €1bn, which means the current model doesn’t give guarantees of continuity.

“Remedies must be found, also because I believe it’s right not to always depend on increasing the shareholder’s capital.

“The romantic football of patronage is outdated, we need to arrive at a different model. The Zhang family has spent about €700m, it’s normal that sooner or later the economic conditions must be reviewed.

“The task of the management is to resolve the objectives and the economic balance. Fortunately, we had peace of mind with these two operations [Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea and Achraf Hakimi to Paris Saint-Germain].

“We are in a position to be calm and therefore we can pursue the objectives of last year considering the structure left and that whoever arrived is satisfying us.

“We need to contain costs and make the players understand that we are in a moment of great difficulty. Also reviewing the fees is essential to find a balance.”

When asked about any other stars leaving in the future, Marotta said: “We can rule it out. I reassure our fans: Inter will also exist in the future.

“Competitiveness is guaranteed. Those who spend the most, doesn’t always win. There’s the heritage of human resources represented by that world that exist outside the spotlight, the invisible team behind the scenes that supports those who go on the pitch on Sunday.

“If this team is strong, you can go very far beyond the name and the player.”