Inter at work in Italy with an extra Lukaku

The tour in Malta is already a thing of the past. From today, Inter returns to training at the Pinetina with a date circled on the Appiano calendar, January 4, the day of the big truth-match against Napoli.

Simone Inzaghi will not have the full ranks (still 4 Nerazzurri in the running in Qatar) but compared to the two friendlies on the island, he will be able to count on three returns of a certain weight. One in particular, that of Romelu Lukaku.

DON’T STOP ANYMORE

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Big Rom should be considered a real purchase in view of the January market for Inter. He had returned “home” in June, thanks to a masterful market operation (loan paid to Chelsea for 8 million plus 5 in bonuses) complete with the cut in salary received by the Blues (from 12 million plus 3 in bonus to 8 .5 plus 2), but so far he has played little or nothing for the Nerazzurri. Because of bad luck, certainly not him. Three appearances with a goal in the first three days of the championship, then the strain to the flexors of the left thigh in training, Sunday 28 August, and the relapse at the end of October, against Sampdoria, when the myotendinous scar on the same thigh broke. Romelu risked losing the World Cup and, even if he managed to fly to Qatar together with his teammates, he didn’t make the contribution everyone hoped for: from the bench he saw his team beat Canada, but when he came on against Tunisia and Croatia (notably) failed to hack. He is left with the bitterness for the wasted scoring against Brozovic and his teammates and that punch given to the bench after the elimination from the World Cup made many things clear. Lukaku returned from a four-day mini-vacation in the Seychelles, then moved to Dubai, to the Nas training center, where Johan, the trusted athletic trainer, joined him. Objective: further improve his physical form and show up at the Pinetina already “stretched” (he was obsessed with his diet, especially when he couldn’t play). He also trained this morning and then flew to Italy. Tomorrow Inzaghi will find him, if not at the top, in decidedly better conditions than those in which he left for Belgium, in an attempt to save his world adventure.

FIRE INSIDE

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Number 90 will be in Milan in the afternoon and tomorrow he will return to the Pinetina to embrace his comrades whom he hasn’t actually seen since the beginning of November. He is as active as at the beginning of the season, perhaps more, because from January to June he expects to score those goals that bad luck did not allow him to score either with Inter (2 in 5 appearances), or with Belgium (0 World). These weeks of work with his teammates will help him find the best physical condition and then “unload” all his anger on Naples. Big Rom can be the added value of Inter who want to make up for the Scudetto. Inzaghi and the Nerazzurri hope it, but above all the big boy from Antwerp hopes it, who wants to stay in Milan again next season thanks to a new agreement with Chelsea. An understanding that, in his mind, will be perfected after giving Zhang’s club an important contribution in terms of goals, assists and performances of a certain type.

ONANA AND CORREA

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In addition to Lukaku (tomorrow), Inzaghi found Correa and Onana today. The first, excluded from the World Cup due to problems with his Achilles tendons, is recovering and has worked with D’Ambrosio and Darmian, returning from injuries and not leaving for Malta. The goalkeeper is back in Milan after getting rid of the expulsion from the Cameroon group at the World Cup. He’s asking Inter for a trophy to lift to forget about Qatar 2022. The Super Cup final on 18 January is already around the corner…