New Inter Signing Still Has Some Unfinished Business With His Former Club

Written By Onyeka Daniel

With the closing of this year’s summer transfer window, it was an uneventful one for former Serie A champions, Inter Milan as they completed just five signings with only one being a player close to 30yrs while focusing on younger players, which is a new policy from their owners, Oaktree Capital.

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It has definitely been an intense week for Swiss defender Manuel Akanji because, on Monday, the 30-year-old completed a deadline day move to Inter from Manchester City, with an initial loan and €15m option to buy, that could become an obligation if the Nerazzurri lift the Scudetto.

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Last night, the defender scored for Switzerland who cruised to an impressive 4-0 win over Kosovo and speaking whilst on international duty, Akanji revealed that he was convinced to depart Manchester after head coach Pep Guardiola “made it clear to us six centre-backs that two would play and two would be on the bench.”

Akanji said “that wasn’t nice to hear because I always expect to be on the pitch.” However, the Swiss international seems determined to turn over a new leaf in his stay in Lombardy, saying that “I’m very happy it worked out. I like Inter very much.” He continued.

The former Borussia Dortmund defender did not close the door on a future return to City, although it seems unlikely if the loan spell goes well given the relatively low buy-option, “The fact is: I’m on loan at Inter, so theoretically a return to Manchester is possible.”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to say goodbye to City yet but I definitely want to do that with a team meal, which isn’t easy to schedule. It’s important that I get to say goodbye and can start again.” Akanji was the Nerazzurri’s eldest signing of the summer and represents some much needed talent and expertise in defence.

In a related development, Inter forward, Lautaro Martinez has given a lengthy interview to France Football as one of the candidates in the shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or as the Argentine striker discussed a range of topics, some related to football, others just on his personal life.

One of the major talking points for the interview was the Nerazzurri’s 5-0 Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain and the departure of head coach Simone Inzaghi shortly after as he refutes claims that the former manager’s potential exit affected them in the final.

Lautaro was asked whether or not Inzaghi’s imminent departure had any impact on Inter’s poor end to the season in which they missed out on both Serie A and Champions League glory by the narrowest of margins. To this, he said “absolutely not.”

The Argentine continued, “Everyone is free to make their own decisions. The coach never told us he’d received an offer or that he was leaving. So we were far removed from all the rumours and focused on our objectives.” Martinez had some kind words to say about Inzaghi, who left the Nerazzurri to join Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal,

“He always demonstrated professionalism. We felt very comfortable with him, he was our driving force.” He further opened up on Champions League ‘pain’ as the 5-0 Champions League final defeat was the heaviest in the competition’s history, a far cry from their first UCL final defeat against Manchester City.

The Argentine forward who recently became the 5th highest goal scorer for his country where he overtook the legendary Diego Armando Maradona revealed that the Nerazzurri were “unable to implement what we had planned” against a “strong, confident and solid” PSG side.

He also told France Football that he was not 100% fit at the end of the season after pulling a muscle in the club’s away match against Barcelona. After the club’s trophy-less end to the season, he spoke of the “deepest pain I’ve ever felt”, unable to speak to his teammates for five days in the wake of the loss to PSG. “

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“I wanted to talk to my teammates but I couldn’t. Nothing came out. I was stuck. I was a little anxious and sad because it was a tough blow. We had the chance to win three trophies and in the end, we found ourselves with none.” He further added.

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