Inter were off to an uninspiring start in the Serie A as the new season got underway last month.
A 2-0 upset at Chievo on the opening day exposed the side’s frailties in key departments as the Nerazzurri made their home debut the following week with a hard-earned one-all draw against lowly Palermo.
Thus, before the international break, Inter had already slipped five points behind leaders Juventus and three fewer than Roma and Napoli – arguably the three most likely candidates to challenge for the 2016/17 scudetto.
Although it is still premature to hand down a verdict, the indications are not positive for three-times European champions Inter.
To start with, they had too many changes in the last few months.
Only last June, Chinese electronics retailer Suning Group purchased nearly 70 per cent of Inter for €270 million.
Following the change of ownership at Inter, Roberto Mancini’s position became the subject of speculation
At the same time, it was made public that Erick Thohir would stay on as president and become the sole minority shareholder while former club supremo Massimo Moratti was to sell off his entire stake at Inter of just under 30 per cent.
Following the change of ownership, Roberto Mancini’s position as coach immediately became the subject of speculation.
Mancini, who returned to Inter in November 2014, had failed to revive the club’s fortunes as they could only finish eighth in season 2014/15 and fourth the following year.
Such modest achievements contrasted sharply with Mancini’s first stint at the San Siro between 2004 and 2008 – a trophy-laden era during which Inter became the leading Italian club having won three league titles, two Coppa Italia titles and two Italian Super Cups.
Dark clouds hovered over Mancini’s future this summer until on August 8 – less than two weeks before the new season – when the decision was taken to part with the former Manchester City mentor.
Mancini was replaced by Frank de Boer, formerly of Ajax.
The move to start a new chapter with a new coach, a novice in the Italian championship, was ill-timed to say the least.
It is still unclear why the new owners waited so long before sacking Mancini. The fans were left puzzled and taken aback that, at a time when Inter were going through such an unstable period, Thohir was Indonesia’s head of delegation at the Rio Olympics.
One has to keep in mind that Inter did most of their pre-season under the charge of Mancini. At the point of his departure, Inter had already signed Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Ever Banega (free agent), Cristian Ansaldi (Genoa) and Caner Erkin (free agent).
Turkey international left-back Erkin has been loaned back to Besiktas as Candreva, who would have featured prominently under Mancini, may become unsuitable to De Boer’s 4-3-3 module.
It is also a known fact that this summer Mancini had requested the new owners to make a bid for three players in particular – Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Thomas Vermaelen (then with Barcelona but later signed for Roma) and Manchester City veteran Yaya Toure.
However, none of the transfers materialised as it became increasingly obvious that the new owners did not want to accede to Mancini’s requests for the simple reason that he was on borrowed time at the club.
The choice of De Boer, an accomplished Dutch defender in his hey days, is also debatable. The new owners have opted for a man with virtually no coaching experience outside the Netherlands.
Perhaps, the sensational signings of Joao Mario (from Sporting Lisbon for a fee that can go up to €45 million) and Gabriel Barbosa (from Santos for €29 million) towards the end of the transfer window were more intended to placate the worried Inter supporters than being the right players Inter needed to bridge the gap with Juventus.
Hopefully, Sunday’s away fixture at Pescara and the subsequent clash with Juve in Milan will shed more light on whether Thohir and Suning had made the right decisions in the off-season.
So, it will be the field of play that will enable us to judge if Inter’s turbulent period is over or if they’re back to the same old days when they used to spend big on new signings but with scant reward and no big results.