One of the standout matches of the Champions League's second matchday saw Inter Milan travel to Camp Nou to take on Barcelona. Lautaro Martínez opened the scoring for Inter in the second minute, but two goals scored by Luis Suárez ensured that the Catalan club would finish the match with the victory.
Despite a generally strong start to the season which has included six consecutive Serie A victories, one cannot help but feel that this past transfer window, Inter had a chance to make the leap and become genuine contenders to win the Champions League. However, it now appears that they may have missed a golden opportunity.
During the previous transfer window, the Nerazzurri spent over €150 million on new signings. The most notable of these was Romelu Lukaku. Inter paid Manchester United €65 million to bring the Belgian centre-forward to the San Siro. Other key additions to Inter's squad included Diego Godín, Alexis Sánchez, and Valentino Lazaro. They also made a coaching change; former Juventus and Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte replaced Luciano Spalletti in the Inter dugout.
Considering all the ways in which Inter upgraded, one might assume that they would have entered this season as one of the leading contenders to win the Champions League. However, such has proven not to be the case.
It is evident that Inter's long-term plan is to build the team around Martínez, and for good reason - the Argentine seems to be a star in the making. If he reaches his ceiling, he could certainly prove to be the foundational piece of a Champions League-winning team.
However, although Inter certainly brought in some solid players who will do well to play supporting roles at the club, one should also consider the immense total sum spent by the Milan club. Inter could easily have added a genuine superstar to their roster.
For example, Matthijs de Ligt was signed from Ajax by Inter's Serie A rivals Juventus for €75 million. In theory, Inter could have signed de Ligt while still making all the signings they actually made with the exception of Lukaku. If they had done so, they would even have spent €5 million less than they actually did. Furthermore, not only is de Ligt a superstar-level player already, but he is still just 20 and not even close to his expected prime. Lukaku is 26 and thus already in the prime of his career. The level at which he is playing now is likely to be his ceiling. De Ligt is not only better than Lukaku now; his ceiling is several levels higher than Lukaku's.
Frenkie de Jong, who was de Ligt's teammate at Ajax last season, also left the Dutch club for the same price; he signed for Barça during the off-season and was in their starting line-up against Inter. Once again, given his age, cost, level of performance, and sky-high potential, Inter once again missed an outstanding opportunity by not signing de Jong. This is especially true given the fact that probably Inter's biggest weakness right now is their central midfield; the signing of de Jong would have remedied that.
Inter could even have chosen to go all-in and made a play for a player who was clearly too good for the team he had around him and would therefore have thrived following a move to a better club. Players such as Harry Kane, N'Golo Kanté, and Lukaku's former United teammate Paul Pogba come to mind. None of these players are likely to be anywhere near a Champions League title at their current club. Considering the surrounding talent that Inter already had at their disposal, such a player could have been the missing piece they needed all along. Either Kanté or Pogba would have been especially helpful to the team because they would have bolstered Inter's weakest position.
Around a year ago, I mentioned in a post I wrote then that a team needs more than one elite-level player to have a realistic chance of winning the Champions League. It looks as though Lautaro Martínez is on his way to becoming such a player. However, if Inter Milan never add another player of comparable quality or potential, it seems unlikely that their current core will ever seriously challenge for the biggest prize in European club football.
No comments:
Post a Comment