“No club today can do without player trading. An important player must be sold every year, the fans must understand that. And more than losing a player, they must worry about the eternal life of their team, guarantor of the present and the future. » This is one of the strong passages of the interview with Giuseppe Marotta, managing director of Inter Milan and a key figure in Italian football, in the Gazzetta dello Sport. Landed at the helm of the Lombard club in 2018, he benefits from the financial contribution of the owner, the Zhang family, but he knows well the importance of the transfer window on the financial health of the club.
And as a result, certain recent events have had an impact on him. We of course think of the about-face of Romelu Lukaku, regularly destroyed by his former teammates. “Lukaku is part of the past. No one thinks of him at Inter anymore, at any level of the club. A record like that of Lukaku is characteristic of the football we know today. But that’s part of it. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me…”he said.
Marotta is bad against Skriniar
The journalist then asks Marotta again about the times this happened to him. “That of a player who pretended to want to renew and then thought the opposite…”, he slips, barely mysterious. Because it’s definitely Milan Skriniar he’s thinking of. When the Slovak’s name is submitted to him, Marotta lets go. “I felt a strong sense of disappointment. Because when a player does not renew, it does not go against the ruling class or the president, but it actually goes against the history and values of the club. He committed an injustice towards Inter, not towards a person. He could have renewed, we proposed many similar solutions, including setting a termination clause that would protect him and Inter’s needs. But he always said no. »
Now at Paris Saint-Germain, the 28-year-old defender has clearly left a bitter taste for the Italian leader, who still mentions him when discussing the possible extension of Lautaro Martinez, who has become the leader of Inter, under contract until in 2026. “Lautaro is not like Skriniar. If he shows the desire to extend, which is also our wish, it is because we are on the right track. Having loyal players is added value. This feeling of belonging is important. If a player doesn’t understand what it means to play for Inter or win a derby… I prefer to have a player with less quality who gives up going to bigger teams, with bigger resources, to stay linked to his club », decided Marotta. Milan Skriniar will appreciate it, or not.
