Inter have been very leaky defensively in the early going, and while Josep Martinez has caught a lot of flak for it, the rearguard has also left a lot to be desired. The Nerazzurri have often fallen into a hole they had to climb out of more than once. While they have pulled it off almost every time in Serie A, they haven’t had the same success in Europe.
President Giuseppe Marotta admitted the flaw in a recent interview to Sky, indicating the reasons for it,
“I agree that we’re missing a defensive leader. However, we parted ways with four men in that role. This led to objective difficulties. It’s also true that you go on the pitch in 11, so it’s not only the back-line’s fault.”
Inter elected not to retain Stefan De Vrij, Francesco Acerbi, and Matteo Darmian. Instead, Real Madrid lured Denzel Dumfries away by activating his release clause. They made a lowball offer to keep only the first one at the end of his contract. However, he turned it down and headed to Panathinaikos.
The Nerazzurri added John Stones as a free agent, but he’s played very little so far because of subpar conditioning after spending the summer without a team and is currently on the shelf with a thigh injury. As for the future, they have been attached to Fenn Jeltsch, but they’ll have to empty their coffers and battle the Premier League giants to capture him.
Our Take on the Inter Defense
They have tried every possible combination already, and none has been impeccable. Perhaps Stones will help out eventually, but they are sorely missing last year’s version of Manuel Akanji.