SempreInter.com exclusively spoke with Australian football and calcio expert Stephen Ganavas on Inter’s latest acquisition Trent Sainsbury and what Interisti can expect from him:
What are his strengths?
“His strengths are his passing range, which has been drilled by national team coach Ange Postecoglou, his aerial ability – can get forward and score from corners because of this too – and he is pretty quick for a centre back.”
What are his weaknesses?
“His positioning can be very off at times – Heung-Min Son’s goal in the 2015 Asian Cup Final is a good example of this.”
Is he an upgrade on the departed Ranocchia?
“I’d say so, mainly because Ranocchia was always a train-wreck whenever he played. Sainsbury is not outstanding but I don’t see how he can be worse than Ranocchia.”
Where does he rank among active Australian footballers? Is he one of the best?
“Probably one of the better ones. I’d put Mooy, Rogic, Milligan, Spiranovic, Luongo and Ryan ahead of him though.”
Sainsbury is the first Australian international to ever play for Inter’s first team. How big is this for Australian football?
“Hard to say how big it will be yet. We’ve had Australian’s play in Italy before with Grella and Bresciano and even Troisi. He would need to get some consistent minutes before there’s any call on how important it is for Australian football.”
