Why Inter must not budge for Newcastle on Barella

There are certainly players that Inter could sacrifice to balance the books, but Susy Campanale warns that Nicolò Barella is not one of them.

It was rather easy to dismiss the idea of Barella moving to Newcastle United, but now that Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea have joined the running, it becomes a little worrying for the Inter supporters. Even then, they have the advantage that two of those clubs aren’t in the Champions League this season, while the other is in the middle of a messy takeover bid.

Knowing Barella and his general outlook on the sport, the side he might genuinely be tempted by is Liverpool, one with a strong history and a solid project in place under Jurgen Klopp, a manager that players enjoy working with. He is not blindsided by the idea of a huge salary, while Inter’s progress to the Champions League Final shows him that silverware can be achieved right where he is.

The asking price has reportedly been set at €80-90m, but even that is in my view under-selling Barella. It is true, he can be a little on the irritating side when wildly gesticulating at referees, teammates and opponents. Yes, even by the standards of Italian footballers and fans, Barella’s gesticulating is considered excessive, so imagine how he’d be treated in the Premier League. Presumably as a mobile wind turbine to power an entire stadium.

Ultimately, the Italy international is the full package for a midfielder. He fights like a lion, or at least a particularly vicious Jack Russell, but also has a remarkably accurate and delicate passing style. As Fabio Capello once noted, the key with Barella is that he doesn’t just whip crosses into the box and hope for the best, he always places them to find a teammate. On top of that, he is more than capable of scoring goals himself and has a ferocious volley on him from outside the penalty area. If he can just be convinced to calm down a bit – see the earlier gesticulating – then his disciplinary record would vastly improve as well. Most of his cards are not for fouls, but for petulance like kicking the ball away or protesting a decision.

Leaving Inter would be tough for him, as he had more lucrative proposals when leaving his hometown club Cagliari, but chose the Nerazzurri. His best friend is Marcelo Brozovic, as they regularly mess around playing pranks on each other and being thick as thieves on the team bus. With the Croatia international one of the likely candidates to be sold this summer, it might unmoor Barella a little bit.

Then again, it was Barella who told Romelu Lukaku that quitting Inter for Chelsea was “a dumb move” and the Belgian acknowledged he was absolutely right during an interview soon after the return to San Siro. If there’s anyone whose experience can put him off a Premier League gamble, then it’s Big Rom. The Premier League had become the place everyone wanted to go for the money, the prestige and the silverware, but things are changing over the last couple of seasons. More and more players are realising they get treated as just one of many, that there’s even more easy cash in Saudi Arabia and that simply being at the richest club is no guarantee of European success.

Selling Barella would be a foolish thing for Inter to do as well. They have plenty of players who were signed relatively cheap and whose values have sky-rocketed in a short space of time, making them comfortable profit margins. Denzel Dumfries and Andre Onana are the prime examples, whereas Barella and Alessandro Bastoni were genuinely investments made for the present and future. The midfielder cost €42.5m to sign from Cagliari, split into a loan with obligation to buy in 2019, and simply doubling that figure isn’t going to reflect how important he is to the club.

So for the sake of Inter and Barella, I really hope all parties resist the allure of money and stick together.

Twitter: @SusyCampanale