Firstly, straight off the bat, let me make it absolutely clear that “banter era” is a phrase used in modern football that I abhor. For an over 30s man like me, it represents everything I don’t like about modern day football. But it seems strikingly appropriate to describe Inter at the moment.
It seemed for a while that the banter era was over at Inter. Conte came in to the club in 2019 and promptly turned their fortunes around, coming runner up in the 2020 Europa League final and then winning a Scudetto a year later. A couple of Coppa Italia and Supercoppa triumphs followed under Simone Inzaghi and they finally added their second star in 2024 as well as competing in two Champions League finals.
But that second Champions League final was where it all seemed to come undone for Inter. An ageing and already exhausted squad was stuttering in the Serie A race with Napoli and were unceremoniously dumped out of the Coppa Italia by city rivals Milan in an embarrassing 3-0 defeat.
A complete collapse against Lazio in the league followed and meant that Napoli had to slip up at home in their final league game. They didn’t, became champions and Inter were second. But no worries, they had a Champions League final to compete in barely a week later.
Everything began to unravel in the wake of the Scudetto disappointment when Gazzetta broke the news that Simone Inzaghi had been approached by Saudi club Al-Hilal. Surely this wouldn’t be seriously entertained? Yep. News broke that his wife and representatives were in Saudi Arabia in the build up to the final. An eye watering €30m per year on offer should he decide to make the move.
A distracted Inter were shocking in the final, slapped 5-0 by a remarkably good PSG side and that was that. No trophies this season. Immediately the fingers began pointing, and most of them landed squarely at Inzaghi’s feet. He was too distracted, he’d already planned to leave, apparently he’d already began tapping up players to join him… We’ll never know the truth but in the wake of the embarrassment and abuse, Inzaghi decided Arabia and a shitload of money was a better bet.
Inter were left licking their wounds, but had designs set on Cesc Fabregas. The young Como coach is impressing and it wasn’t his first link to an outside job. However, he plumped for staying by the lake and building something with Como, another embarrassing pursuit for Inter. That forced the clubs hand and at the last minute before travelling to America they landed on former defender Christian Chivu.
Their former youth team coach had managed 13 games in Serie A with Parma at the end of last season and while a popular person, his appointment has received a mixed bag of reviews.
Still, a trip to America and a chance to put the shambles of the start of 2025 behind them and prove everyone wrong. The start of the trip was only the start of the issues, Hakan Calhanoglu was a target for Galatasaray and his agent promptly flew to Istanbul to try and get a deal going. Oddly enough, Hakan was then injured and would miss every Inter match during the tournament.
Their first game, a 1-1 draw with CF Monterrey was typical of Inter in the second half of the season. Dominant on the ball, creating chances but a combination of poor defending and profligacy meant they had to come from behind to rescue the point.
Worse was to come, in a victory over Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds, Inter were 1-0 down thanks to poor defending (again) and chasing a game they never really had the creativity to do. Leave it to Lautaro to pull something from nowhere from a set piece (as he did in match 1) and then Carboni to break the hearts of the tired Japanese side.
Matchday 3 was a significant improvement. A comfortable 2-0 win over River Plate that in truth, could’ve been more. Maybe Inter had clicked, maybe they were back? Don’t get carried away.
They went into last night’s perfectly winnable game against the only team with an older defence than them (probably in the World) and laboured from the start. 1-0 down thanks to some poor defending by De Vrij and Darmian and questionable goalkeeping from Sommer, they never truly looked like having the creativity or ideas to break down Fluminense.
A second goal on the break for Fluminense capped a well deserved victory for them and a thoroughly well deserved defeat for Inter.
But at least the season was now over, a chance to rest before next year and come back fighting to move on. You wish. Inter were straight into the playground, with Lautaro calling on anyone who didn’t want to stay and fight for Inter to “just leave”. Lautaro, however, was positively diplomatic when compared with Marotta who bluntly put it as, “he means Calha”.
That’s that then.
Calha’s wife put out a message on Instagram (now deleted) that was akin to something your mum’s friend puts on Facebook mid-divorce. Something to do with trust and loyalty or whatever.
Hakan responded with his own statement on his Instagram page today ending with, “History always remembers those who stood tall, not those who shouted the loudest”. All it was missing was a black and white picture of Tommy Shelby holding a shotgun and it would’ve been perfect.
In amongst all this, there was some good news! Ange-Yoan Bonny arrived in Milan for his medical ahead of a €25m deal from Parma. The 21 year old is part of the club’s strategy to lower the average age of the squad and add some much needed depth. Nico Paz, Giovanni Leoni are two others who are linked heavily with Inter this summer. They might want to sort out what’s happening inside the club first though.
One thing’s for sure, this soap opera at Inter isn’t finished yet.
Pazza Inter!
The Calcio Blog 