Inter CEO Beppe Marotta rules himself out as new President, but assures Oaktree ‘wants to give stability’ to the club, while there are ‘no concerns’ over Lautaro Martinez’s contract.
The last few days have been difficult ones for the Champions of Italy, as the Zhang family holding company Suning failed to repay the €395m including interest loan, so the club was effectively repossessed by Oaktree.
The American fund has sent representatives for meetings in Milan, where they tried to reassure fans, coach Simone Inzaghi and directors that very little will change.
“We had received reassurances since the first day, we know that Oaktree as a fund want to give consistency, stability and sustainability to the club, but above all want to continue the run of important results. I am here to spread that optimism,” Marotta told reporters at the Rosa Camuna awards.
With Steven Zhang now out of the picture, Inter need to find a new President, but Marotta insists it will not be him.
“No, I was born a director even as a young man and it’s only right I retain that role. That of President belongs to others.”
Marotta confident over Lautaro Martinez
As CEO, Marotta is therefore in charge of negotiations with Lautaro Martinez’s agent over the extension of his contract, with reports varying from them being close to a deal to having massive differences between salary demand and offer.
“It is not a concern. There are negotiations that represent typical dynamics in the world of football. We have to start from one important consideration, which is that Lautaro feels a great sense of belonging towards this club and this city, so that will help us in the negotiations with his agent.
“There is certainly no rush, we’ll take it easy and at the right moment will face these problems, if you want to consider them that, but it’s truly quite an ordinary situation.”
Coach Inzaghi was also all set to sign a new contract before the takeover from Oaktree.
“The Lautaro situation is reflected in Inzaghi’s too. He has proved to be a winning coach, we want to continue this journey and extend his contract because we have faith in him and want to put him in a condition to work calmly,” concluded Marotta.
“His era can continue for a long time to come.”
🐂⚫️🔵 #Marotta sulla trattativa per il rinnovo di contratto di #Lautaro con l’#Inter: “Non c’è preoccupazione e non c’è fretta, sono dinamiche normali. È molto legato al club e alla città”.
📹 @ivanfcardia pic.twitter.com/bDG3GxK7y7
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) May 29, 2024