The Options Before Cristian Chivu After Calhanoglu’s Injury Blow

After the recent disappointing result for former Serie A champions, Inter Milan Over at the weekend where they played out a 2-2 draw against Napoli at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, things are about to get much worse for the club as another comes out from that game.

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Towards the end of the match, Hakan Calhanoglu came down with an injury and now, it has been confirmed that he suffered a muscle strain in his left calf, and according to reports in Italy, the Turkey international will remain out for around 20 days, which will be a huge blow for the team.

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This is because they will be forced to cope without Calhanoglu for at least five to six matches in what should be a schedule for the team according to Italian sources, including Sky Sport Italia as the club confirmed their midfielder’s injury with a statement on Tuesday morning:

“Hakan Çalhanoğlu underwent an MRI scan this morning at the Humanitas Clinical Institute in Rozzano. The tests revealed a muscle strain in his left calf, and his condition will be assessed over the coming days.” The Nerazzurri confirmed in a statement.

The 31-year-old has scored eight goals and provided four assists in 22 appearances across all competitions this season while Inter are the Serie A table leaders and will host Lecce at San Siro on Wednesday in a rescheduled Serie A Week 16 fixture, which they didn’t play in December due to their involvement in the Supercoppa Italiana.

Calhanoglu is also expected to miss games against Udinese, Pisa and Cremonese in Serie A, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, but could return for a league game at Sassuolo on February 8 or the next game against Juventus, which will be the next big Serie A game for the club.

For the time being, the club will have to start considering their options and the natural replacement would be Piotr Zielinski who has been the go to solution this season. Then there is also Nicolo Barella who played the regista role under Simone Inzaghi and finally, the unorthodox option of Kristjan Asllani.

The Albania International is said to be on his way out of Torino six months earlier than expected and while the initial plan was to send him away this winter, he could be brought back in as a temporary fix but it is probably going to be an awkward situation, hence, signing a player in the market would be a better solution.

In a related development, Galatasaray Vice-president, Abdullah Kavukcu has landed in Italy to hold talks for Juventus, Inter and Milan midfielders with the trio of Teun Koopmeiners, Davide Frattesi and Youssouf Fofana being mentioned as their targets, especially the Inter midfielder.

The Turkish club will hold direct talks with Italian giants in the coming hours to meet representatives of some Serie A clubs and according to reports, Galatasaray are interested in Inter’s Frattesi and Calhanoglu, Milan’s Fofana and Juventus’ Koopmeiners.

Inter are open to listening to offers for Frattesi and have set their asking price at €35m, while the Italian midfielder seeks a January exit to get more playing time ahead of the World Cup but for the player, he would prefer a move to a more prestigious club like Juventus.

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For Milan, they’re not likely to listen to any offer Fofana mid-season and for Koopmeiners, he has had a promising start under new Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti, even playing as a left defender. Having joined Juventus for €60m just 18 months ago, the Bianconeri are still demanding a hefty fee for the Dutch midfielder.

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