Inter, the renewal plan for the big names, Inzaghi armored, Zhang at the helm

Inter fans, intoxicated with the present, only fear that someone will swoop in from behind and cruelly whisper: “It will all end soon…”. While they enjoy the ascent towards the star – and, why not, the one towards the Champions League summit -, the average Inter fans, skeptical by nature, are worried that this light is only the dazzle of a moment. Well, this time they can rest assured because the team will not disappear in a cloud of sulfur a moment after the scudetto, on the contrary Inter wants to remain a tyrant thanks to a precise three-year plan. The team, management and coach have put down deep roots, even the club is much more stable, to the point that there is a shared ambition between the offices in Viale della Liberazione, the fields of Appiano and the Suning headquarters in Nanjing: we will try to win well beyond 2023-24 by keeping all the warriors of this historic ride. In sport they call them “cycles”, and the Nerazzurri want to build one of their own, starting with the second star’s scudetto: the time horizon is a three-year period, work is already underway to maintain the competitive advantage in Italy and remain among the European elite until 2027. Of course, in these places and with this football, everything changes quickly and a fall is always possible in the event of wrong choices, new economic contingencies, rearming of competition or other unpredictable variables, but what matters at the moment is that the Simone Inzaghi’s army is a solid reality that no one wants to dismantle.

Again with Simone

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Inzaghi holds the keys to this car which has now become a custom-built car: from a shaky passing coach, he has now become, thanks to his merits on the field, a “permanent” manager of high responsibility in Milan. It’s not just his democratic method of managing the locker room or the ability to combine beauty and victory, the Inter top brass appreciated (and will be rewarded…) his growth in managing difficulties. Simone has already renewed twice since he has been in Milan and now it “expires” in 2025, but the managers do not want a coach capable of winning at least one title in the last three seasons to start the year with an expiring contract. The (mutual) desire to be together is such that the expected renewal may not only be for one year as happened last time, but can go up to two. In this case, Inzaghi would be locked down until 2027, the new expiry date of the managers of the sports area, from Beppe Marotta to Piero Ausilio. The technical continuity starts right from them, accustomed to beating the competition in time: the two zero parameters who have already recruited for 2024-25 Zielinski in the middle and Taremi in front, plug the possible next holes from the start.

The president’s moves

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It is Zhang himself who wants us to continue with this winning structure, also because he is the first to be firmly at the helm. His signature now arriving for a new agreement with Oaktree, which reschedules the loan received in 2021, is a key step between the Nerazzurri’s present and future. Three years ago Steven had received 275 million from the American fund, which in the meantime had become around 350. Now, anticipating the repayment deadline set for May 20, he is playing the refinancing card: more oxygen for at least a couple of years, even if interest rates are destined to rise compared to the current (already high) gate of 12%. . In any case, Zhang is no longer exposed to the wind as he once was, he talks about medium-long term projects and wants to take a plane to Milan at the beginning of April for the possible Champions League quarter-finals. First, however, we will have to resist the Metropolitano on March 13th, the watershed of the season: only by passing the round will the club confirm its new European status which is the basis on which to build tomorrow.

Armored jewels

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Just a moment before challenging Cholo, Inter will also resume the process for Lautaro’s renewal: the managers will see Toro’s agent, Alejandro Camaño, directly in “his” Madrid and will begin to shave off that two million difference between demand (10) and supply (8). There is confidence in the Argentine’s signature before June, the same that the managers have in Barella’s contemporary yes. The new contracts of captain and vice-captain will go even beyond the famous 2027 – here the horizon is 2028 – and will be very valuable pieces of a team to be preserved in its entirety. The Nerazzurri won the last scudetto immersed in a dark sense of precariousness (they said goodbye to Hakimi and Lukaku), while they are winning this one with very different prospects: unless there are indecent offers, no big name will necessarily have to leave. Now Inter’s priority is no longer to survive, but to build a dynasty.