Hernanes is hoping his move to Inter will help open the door to a place in Brazil’s World Cup team though he failed to unravel the mystery as to his preferred position.

The midfielder also named Ronaldo as his favourite former Inter player, a comment unlikely to go down well with fans who remember how the now-retired forward left the club for Real Madrid shortly after recovering from a long injury layoff.

Ronaldo was at Inter for four seasons after joining for a world record fee in 1997 and, although he scored plenty of goals in the first two, the way he left, after the club had supported him during a two-year injury nightmare, upset many fans.

“Ronaldo... was one of the three best players of all time in my opinion,” Hernanes told reporters. “Like all left-footed players I like Recoba, plus he was in a different class. He really impressed me.”

Hernanes joined Inter in the January transfer window after 3-1/2 seasons at Lazio and spoke glowingly of his new club’s past.

“(Inter) are the only club to have never been relegated to Serie B. This is proof that it’s a serious club that knows how to get results,” he told a news conference.

“Then there’s the fact that Inter were never caught up in the scandals that hit Italian football a few years back. I’m pleased about that.”

He then spoke of his World Cup hopes.

“I think Inter will give me even more credibility in terms of the national team. It was a big move, I’ve made a step up. It will certainly be important for the World Cup,” he said.