BEVERLY HILLS, June 03, (THEWILL) – Thursday has seen the continued coach confirmation that has been the fashion of the post-2020/2021 football season as Serie A champions, Inter Milan, confirmed the appointment of Simone Inzaghi as manager in place of Antonio Conte, who guided Inter to their first Serie A title in 11 years.
The 45-year-old was contracted on a deal that will keep him at the Milan club until June 2023, at the very least. It means Inzaghi exits his managerial position at another Italian side, Lazio.
He moved to Lazio four years ago and effected radical changes that saw them clinch the Coppa Italia in the 2018/2019 campaign. With the tight budgetary allowance available to Inzaghi at Lazio, the manager was still able to win three sets of silverware at a period when Juve were hell-bent on winning everything on offer.
Lazio took him on upon the resignation of Marcelo Bielsa and Inzaghi has overachieved. Under him, Lazio also returned to UEFA Champions League after a 13-year absence from the competition. They were knocked out in the Round of 16 by defending champions Bayern Munich, but it was an achievement by itself to have gone that far, something they had not managed since Inzaghi himself played at the club.
With all these going for him, the decision to leave Lazio stunned the Lazio club’s management because prior to the vacancy at Inter, Inzaghi had committed to remaining at the club but with Massimiliano Allegri back at Juventus, an upscaling of Inzaghi to the position of Inter manager seemed only too natural.
It is interesting to see what he will be able to accomplish with the talent at his disposal in Inter. The obvious pressure of being the defending champions will be there but it is to his benefit that he will inherit a team with a very similar style and system to the one he implemented at the Stadio Olimpico.
The only dark area will be a question of which players he will have at his disposal given that one of the reasons Conte parted ways with Inter was because the club needed to raise more than €70 million in the transfer market to shore off financial obligations worsened by the pandemic.
This might lessen early expectations for Inzaghi but he will have to show a good fight to retain the title with Allegri in the Juve dugout while also making a better show at continental level where Inter has been eliminated at the group stage in each of the last three seasons. A better performance than that will be a good start.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
