Inter Milan showed a positive trend this season by dominating Serie A until week 26. Simone Inzaghi’s team has only lost once in the league this season. Not only that, the Nerazzurri managed to achieve 8 consecutive wins, including victory over Atalanta in the postponed match of Week 21 on Thursday.
In these 8 wins, Inter managed to score 5 consecutive clean sheets and scored 25 goals and conceded only 4 goals. Despite losing several mainstay players such as Andre Onana, Milan Skriniar and Marcelo Brozovic who helped them reach the Champions League final last season, Inter did not shake.
Currently, Inter is leading the race for the Scudetto with a 12 point advantage over second place Juventus. Simone Inzaghi’s men scored 67 goals (the highest in the top five European leagues) and only conceded 12 goals (the lowest in the top five European leagues) from the 26 matches played. What is the secret that makes La Beneamata still able to dominate Serie A?
Inter’s success in dominating Serie A this season is thanks in no small part to their ingenuity in the 2023/24 summer transfer market. They took a bold step by selling Marcelo Brozovic, a player who has been a mainstay in the midfield position since 2016. Even though Brozo was one of the key figures who helped Inter advance to the Champions League final for the 22/23 season, this did not dampen the Nerazzurri’s desire to sell him.
Inter’s confidence in selling the Croatian national team player was due to the successful transformation of Hakan Calhanoglu’s role. Since the 22/23 season, Calhanoglu has been plotted as a replacement for Brozovic, who has been absent frequently due to injury. Thanks to this, this season he has become more fluent in playing his role as regista.
Most recently, Calhanoglu made a surprising statement by saying that he was the best registrar in the world. He managed to interpret the role Brozo played by adding more advantages to his team in the attacking aspect. This season, Inter have scored 67 goals, just 4 goals away from equaling their goal tally in the 22/23 Serie A season. Calhanoglu said that
Apart from selling Brozovic, Inter brought in young striker Marcus Thuram from Borussia Monchengladbach to replace Romelu Lukaku who moved to AS Roma. Thuram’s performance in his first season was quite impressive. He quickly adapted to Serie A by recording 10 goals and 7 assists for the Nerazzurri, including one beautiful goal when they beat AC Milan 5-1 in the Milan derby.
Inter’s ingenuity in the transfer market was also demonstrated by the signing of senior goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who only cost 8 million euros to replace Andre Onana, who was bought by Manchester United for a high price of 50 million euros. They also got the perfect replacement for Milan Skriniar in Benjamin Pavard. Both played an important role in making Inter the team with the fewest goals conceded in Europe’s top five leagues (12 goals).
Apart from bringing in replacements for the main players, Inter also strengthened the depth of the squad by borrowing Marko Arnautovic, Davide Frattesi, Carlo Augusto and Emil Audero. Apart from that, they also brought in Alexis Sanchez, Kristjan Asllani, Juan Cuadrado and made Francesco Acerbi permanent for a total cost of only 14 million euros.
Inter’s ingenuity in the transfer market is thanks to none other than the presence of Giuseppe Marotta behind the scenes. After leaving Juventus for Inter in 2018, Marotta, who is already known as an expert in bringing in suitable free transfer players, showed his skills again at Inter.
Until the 23/24 season, Marotta had brought in 14 players without a transfer fee for Inter including Diego Godin, Onana, Mkhitaryan, Calhanoglu and Thuram. The last three names are still core Nerazzurri players. However, Inter’s ingenuity in the transfer market would not mean much without the figure of Simone Inzaghi who succeeded in making Inter collectively so that they became the team that produced the most goals and conceded the lowest in Europe’s top five leagues.
Inzaghi’s selection after Antonio Conte left in the 2021/22 season turned out to be very appropriate. The game idea of relying on a three-defender formation which is not much different from the two makes Inzaghi’s job easier at Inter. Even though they have the same tactical tendencies, the policies and player selection between the two coaches are very different.
The most obvious thing about Inzaghi’s success at Inter was developing Federico Dimarco’s potential which was wasted by Conte. Even though he had the opportunity to return Dimarco to Inter after being loaned to Parma and Hellas Verona, Conte never gave him the opportunity to return. Conte prefers more senior players in the left wing back position in his team such as Ashley Young and Cristiano Biraghi. Unlike Conte, Inzaghi gave Dimarco the opportunity to show off.
As a result, the Italian defender has now become one of Inter’s deadly attacking assets. Even though he plays as a defender, this season Dimarco is ranked second in Serie A in the category of players who pose the most threats, with 12 big chances created and only lost to Rafael Leao (13). Dimarco has also created 4 goals and 6 assists this season, including his spectacular goal against Frosinone which is believed to be in the Puskas award category.
Apart from developing Dimarco’s potential and transforming Calhanoglu’s role, Inzaghi also succeeded in making Inter talk a lot in the European arena. In contrast to Conte, who does not have a distinguished record in the Champions League or Europa League, Inzaghi almost gave Inter the Champions League trophy for the 22/23 season, but this failed to happen because they lost to Manchester City in the final with a narrow score of 1-0.
Inzaghi does have a good reputation in tournaments. Since his career as a professional coach, he has played 9 final matches and only lost 2 (Coppa Italia final vs Juve and UCL final vs Man. City). Three seasons with Inter, Inzaghi has won 5 titles (2 Coppa Italia and 3 Supercoppa Italia).
His success in building an ideal squad and maximizing the role and potential of his players means he has a high chance of winning the Scudetto this season. Apart from that, the sharpness of main striker Lautaro Martinez also helps Inzaghi’s work. Until week 26, Lautaro had scored 23 goals. As a result, if they are able to maintain consistency until the end of the season, not only winning the Scudetto, Inter might be able to return to the Champions League final this season.
ASL
