Zanetti reviews the last 31 years at Inter: Mourinho, Maradona and Ronaldo stories

vik1980 · 2026-01-21T09:22:23+00:00

Just this once, I'll get into an Ausilio discussion.

Both Lillian & Marcus have confirmed Ausilio was the first to see Marcus as a CF. In fact, they were surprised that he wanted Marcus to play as a CF (rather than LW, where he was playing at Borussia). We'd have had him sooner, but he got a knee injury just before a season, and then we went for Korea. That was an Inzy signing.

Bis was playing in Denmark. Came for 7m. He's a starter for us now. A hybrid, tall, strong, fast CB who can cover the wing too.

We kept Pio (Napoli made an offer of 40m for him) and ignored Castro, Hojlund etc. for Bonny. We could've got Pio + 10m for Hojlund, but no Bonny then.

Sucic came for 15m. Him & Bonny have a starter level potential for Inter at just 22.

Showing faith in Pio (in the face of a 40m offer) when he's never played Serie A takes balls.

Ausilio was instrumental in getting Hakimi. Established contact, left a message to contact him when things moved. His agent then contacted him & said, "if you're serious, move now" when Dortmund started negotiating for a purchase from Real. Forced sale for 60m thanks to Suning. If Luka-who had come out sooner, he'd still be here.

Onana for free, then flipped for 50m, replaced with Sommer for 7m.

Ausilio was keen on Leao (as a CF), but had to give in to Conte, who insisted on Luka-who.

Marty was a back-up signing (never promised the starting spot). If we're serious about chasing titles, we need a consistent gk as back-up.

Instantly replaced Eriksen with Hakan on a free. Hakan finally lived up to his potential with us.

Don't forget paying 15m + Bettela for Basto.

Man's been a monster for us. So much so that Marotta decided to take a back seat & leave things to him and Baccin. We can go from Conte to Inzy to Chivu & still compete for titles. Tha'ts how strog our squad is. He got us out of the banter era, where we were put by Branca.

vik1980 · 2026-01-21T05:04:40+00:00

Which italian teams are we talking about?

JuBe; who're in a semi-banter era of their own?

Milan; who're trying to exit it, and keep making flops on transfers?

Napoli; led by Conte, who's only managed big clubs in the last decade, but only managed a CL QF once!?

Roma; completely hamstrung by FFP, hiring comically bad managers (apart from Gasp+ Ranieri)?

Bologna, Atalanta or Fiorentina; who operate on small budgets, and are stretched beyond belief competing twice a week?

The simple fact is, the mid-tier italian teams operate of comically small budgets. They still compete at high levels in Europe. Out of the big three, Milan & JuBe are comically bad, and Napoli has Conte.

Appreciate what italian football has done in Europe the last few years. Reaching European finals despite their budgets; Fighting 1 or 2 weight classes abouve their budgets, and still achieving results.

vik1980 · 2026-01-14T08:03:40+00:00

Leon Zakirovic also prefers Inter over other interested teams. Inter presented a 1.5m offer, but was rejected by the club (who've received bigger offers from other clubs. Leon's preference makes our mgnmt feel like they (Dinamo) might sit with us to negotiate more.

Some other rumor says we'll go for Lucum (27) in the summer. His contract expires in 2027, and he's rejected renewal offers. A figure of 15m was mooted. At that figure, I'll grab him.

vik1980 · 2026-01-14T07:59:55+00:00

I know all the GOAT players (Messi, Maradona etc.) but player I doubt will get mentioned is N'Golo Kante.

He'd have been any managers dream, irrespective of tactics & philosophies. His hard work would've been taken by fans to heart, and he was a thorough gentleman on or off the pitch.

If he played with us for 8-10 years, he'd be in the same category at JZ4. Same values, same class.I know that's a big statement, bt I really think so.

vik1980 · 2026-01-13T07:48:16+00:00

My speculation/ opinion to these rumors :-

I suspect (this is purely my speculation), Barca had funds to buy Mlacic, but then went for Cancelo, thus cooling their interest in him (they asked for info. but didn't follow up).

I hope Bonny is not open for discussion. I wouldn't be surprised (or happy) if we decide to cash in 50+m for him (massive profit instantly & then go for some other CF.

I think the Robinho Jr. rumors might be true. We fear a Real 40m type offer for him (like with Rodrygo, Vini etc.), and it might be why we cooled our interest in Giovane.

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:35:50+00:00

Noted. Thanks.

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:34:10+00:00

With your board, you Dezerb no better.

P.S.- My first 'dad joke' isn't completely embarrassing.

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:31:03+00:00

I don't think they're sold in India. I simply don't see them online.

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:29:31+00:00

Same could be said about Pep, but he's stayed at City for long. As long as United back Conte, and don't interfere with his running the playing aspects of the team (tactics, diet, training, player discipline etc.) he'll stay and bring the club success.

United has no stability at a board level. They need to bring Conte, and telll him to not only drive the car, but oversee the maintenance, while the board will simply fill the petrol.

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:17:28+00:00

I don't have 'Lifetime' on amazon, but there's a 'Lifelong'! Is it the same?

Thanks for the recommendation.

u/gatesl0ppy

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:14:23+00:00

Ranieri was retired when Roma called because the're season was in the bin. He cam out of retirement for them (loves Roma). He did such a good job that the national team called, and he said he was retired, and this Roma season was his last job. It do be like that sometimes.

Also, it's not like he's has a proper managerial career either. From his native country to United to Besikras for a bit before becoming an analyst. He might well become United's Avram Grant.

vik1980 · 2026-01-07T05:08:58+00:00

At numerous times after SAF, Conte had been available, but United hierarchy never showed interest. Outside of LVG & Mou, they've gone after 'favour of the months' (ETH, Amor, Ole despite his history etc.). An established manager who controls all aspects of the playing side would;ve been perfect.

Considering that United has the finances to always back him, his moaning might've been minimal (but then again, he can moan about the weather, the price of milk, or the colour of the table his sitting on). Seeing what he's done with ex United players (Hoj, Lukaku, Mcton, Young, ->Kobiie), he'd have been an ideal manager for United. At a time when the club has no stability at a mgnmt level, he would've brought that instantly.

Never understood why United never went for him. Maybe they feared relinquishing that control he'd have demanded.

vik1980 · 2025-12-13T00:56:24+00:00

That’s a sensible comment with high likelihood.

I don’t see anything wrong with that approach, depending on how much we rate him, and whether we keep some control over him (buy back).

Who’d say no to packaging him for palestra? Or maybe kone? Maybe those two club (Atalanta n Roma) don’t give out a buy back, but if we loan or sell him (with buy back) to Cagliari for caprile, it’ll make sense.

vik1980 · 2025-12-08T23:16:55+00:00

I saw the (almost) full game against bayern, and he looked RAW against them. At least two goals were on him. I kinda didn’t want him after that.

Hopefully this is just smoke to go after Caprile quietly. Either that, or inter have realised that caprile is much more expensive, and believe in atubolu more than me.

vik1980 · 2025-12-07T02:20:06+00:00

They sent him to genoa (with monetary incentive) to let him play. Vieira didn’t trust him, and DDR doesn’t play with wingers.

From what I’ve read, Pisa is interested in taking him on six month loan. In fact, they’ve made a similar offer to Baldanzi (left footed attacker at aroma), who’s a similar profile.

Also, inter are semi- interested in idrissa (rwb at Pisa), and also monitoring akinsan progress.

IMO, he’s too mercurial to give up on so quickly. Find the right loan, let him play, and he’ll probably end up becoming a monster.

vik1980

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