Inter boss Roberto Mancini spoke exclusively with calciomercato.com editorial director Stefano Agresti: The future and the prospects for the club – “Will I still be at Inter next season? If they don’t send me away I will still be the coach of Inter, because then in football things can change quickly. At the start of the season they were going to get rid of Allegri, whereas now they’d be willing to offer him a twenty year contract; At the start of the season they wanted to keep me at Inter for 56 years, now they’d be more willing to let me go. Football is like this, things can change overnight. Am I optimistic about the corporate prospects of Inter? My job is not to audit accounts, I think that it is only a matter of time becuase Inter are returning to being big. The president has invested in Inter and will do it again: I am very confident.” The Market Chapter – “I don’t know if Banega will arrive, I have no idea: you need to ask Piero (Ausilio). Banega is a technical player, he is a starter for the Argentine national side and by no accident. We will see what happens in June. Erkin? I know him because I worked in Turkey, I know him well: he is a good player. But I know nothing, you have to ask, as with Banega, Piero.” Is Ljajic like Mancini the player – “I was not like that when I was 25 years old, I was like that when I was 16. I can understand everything, but because he has enormous qualities, he needs to think like a great professional. Because of course a career in foootball can end quickly and many times players of quality are unable to focus on this. He must focus on exploiting his quality, and making it available to the team. He must only be concentrated for 2-3 hours a day, it’s not strenuous. A player who scatters his qualities, is a great loss to football.” The national side, would you be amazed by a call especially after the past you’ve had with Lotito? – “Lotito is the president of Lazio, it has nothing to do with the Federation. The Federal president is one, I’ve met him a few times, so I know him very well. With him I have never had any problems. The rest does not count. Beyond this, as far as I’m concerned, should I ever get to coach the national team, that would be the crowning achievement in the career of coach who has lead great teams. It is clear that it would be a great honor, a chance to coach the national side does not come to everyone and does not always come.” On Ranieri leading the Premier League and the English memories – “I am impressed by what Ranieri is doing becuase I played in Leicester and I know the reality. Now the team is certainly stronger than then, but to win there is very complicated. And I am particularly pleased that Ranieri is on the bench, because he deserves a great satisfaction and if he manages to win the Premier League with Leicester it would be something great. Since I played there I am a fan of Leicester, with even more reason I am now because Ranieri is making it so big. The Premier League is beautiful because you live football regardless of what happens, in Italy after one or two losses, or after one or two wins, things change, but in England the stadiums are always full. I think that it is the ultimate expression in a game of football. The fans live as they should, the same with the players. Having had an experience like that, having won the Premier League and the FA Cup, for me it is something extremely beautiful.” Guardiola will arrive at City. What will Touré do? “I do not know what will happen at City, because they have many players and they are a great team at least for the past four or five years. In fact I’d say they are the best team in the Premier League regardless of whether they win or not. Touré is a great player, and City have many, but I do not know what will happen.” The Champions League objective and predictions for the Scudetto next season – “When you begin a new era, a new path as is happening at Inter, before returning to the top you will experience beautiful moments and others that are more difficult. This year we were top of the table for almost the entire first round, therefore it means that we have done something good. Now we have an objective, which is the same as it was from the beginning: there is still a lot at stake, we know it will not be easy but we will do everything we can. Then we will see what happens next year, for sure the team will improve, with time we will see if we are capable of fighting with those who today have even more than us.” The criticism – “I do not read the newspapers, on TV I only watch matches… with all due respect I have for the work of journalists, I have no great illusions when the praise is extraordinary as happened at the beginning of the season or problems are created when instead criticism arrives, at least when it’s offensive. I have not heard anything with my own ears, neither have I read anything, but they have to relate. The fact is that rooting counts and sometimes the reporters are fans. The former football colleagues? Talking is easy. Very easy. I understand this, it costs nothing to speak and no one the day after says: look, I said this but it that not what it was exactly… it’s part of the whole circus of the Italian league, we live for these things, the controversy… we like to behave like this… and then Inter is a great team, so when there is something wrong the critics will arrive.” The Scudetto fight: Can Napoli recover? “I think it will be a struggle between the two… but, I do not know if the two have seen that Roma have rebuilt beneath them and are not far away at this moment: ten days before the end I think thst there could possibly be a three way fight if the giallorossi continue to do well. Obviously I hope not, seeing as we are playing them in two weeks.” Source: FCInterNews.it
