Inter Milan start their season on Saturday with a vengeful coach.
Antonio Conte, who finally stayed behind after almost slamming the door, can rely on a four-star squad to try to end Juventus' reign in the Italian Championship.
With Arturo Vidal, reinforcement of weight landed this week in Lombardy, Conte finds a warrior as he likes them, a player with whom he won three scudetti on the bench of Juve (2012-2015).
This arrival, set up as a priority by the Milan coach, is undoubtedly the one that best symbolizes what Inter lacked last season - a bit of experience, more fighting spirit.
And best embodies the ambitions of the Nerazzurri version 2020-2021: return to the top, after failing last year to one point behind Juve in the league and nothing in the final of the Europa League, against Sevilla (2- 3).
Hand in hand with Giuseppe Marotta?
“Our ambition is to confirm our credibility at national and international level,” Antonio Conte summed up Friday, on the eve of Inter's league debut against Fiorentina in San Siro.
For his media return, he presented himself alongside the managing director Giuseppe Marotta, in order to show that the disagreements which scrambled the end of the Milanese season are well smoothed between the volcanic coach and his management.
After the defeat against Sevilla, Conte had indeed heavily cast doubt on the rest of his career, evoking the "future of Inter, with or without" him and his wish not to "spend another year of this way."
Squeaks that followed others during this first Milanese season, where Conte had already criticized recruitment.
"I would not speak of misunderstandings, there were confrontations of points of view, but as in all good families, it is right that everyone can express themselves", minimized the coach Friday.
Same line at Marotta: "We are sportsmen, people used to confrontation, which has always led to positive results (...) If there is no tension, it leads to a relaxation which does not allow not the necessary competitiveness ”, indicated the person in charge nerazzurro.
The summer showdown provoked by Conte will at least have made it possible to obtain some additional financial efforts from his management in the transfer market, despite the difficult economic context due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"No team has the obligation to win, no coach can 100% assure his club that he will win ...."
Antonio Conte
In addition to the reunion with Arturo Vidal, Inter have recruited the promising side Achraf Hakimi (21, loaned for two years by Real Madrid to Borussia Dortmund and arrived for an amount estimated at 40 million euros).
In two seasons, Inter has largely reshaped its workforce to meet the wishes of its demanding coach.
And since the club, like many others this year, is struggling to give up its players (Milan Skriniar and Marcelo Brozovic are still there), Conte can rely on a bloated workforce at the start of the season, with the return of loan from some other players (Ivan Perisic, Radja Nainggolan ...).
"Such an abundance of quality players removes any alibi for Inter and tifosi: this time, the objective must be the title", wrote the Repubblica this week, listing the impressive internal staff.
Conte, 51, recruited at a high price (more than 10 million euros in annual salary) to put an end to the shortage of titles which has now lasted since 2011 on the Inter side, however remained cautious on Friday: " No team has the obligation to win, no coach can give 100% to his club that he will win ... A team like Inter has the obligation to be in the match until end, then you always need a little luck to win, like in the final of the Europa League. "
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