Luciano Spalletti is set for a productive and time-efficient pre-season thanks to Inter’s organisation in the transfer market and low-profile friendly schedule, as Tuttosport write on Wednesday.
Spalletti endured a difficult first summer at the club last year after being appointed head coach in June, with a jam-packed pre-season tour of Asia and an inefficient recruitment process leaving him with little time to work properly on the training ground ahead of the start of the 2017-18 Serie A season.
This summer, however, promises to be much more fruitful for him, with Inter having secured three new signings already (who will all be present from the first day of pre-season training) and heavily down-scaled their program of friendly matches, which will all take place closer to home and in far more manageable climatic conditions.
As well as this, Inter have only four players taking part in this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Perisic, Miranda and Matias Vecino (along with the outgoing Yuto Nagatomo and Joao Mario); and so, as Tuttosport discussed on Wednesday, that will not inconvenience their preparation too much either.
“Spalletti will be able to get to work on the formations he intends to use throughout the season,” they write, “such as his trusty 4-2-3-1 along with 3-4-1-2, while also helping Inter’s new signings to settle in quickly, with Lautaro Martinez in particular arriving from a country whose football is completely different to football in Italy and Europe.
“What’s more, thanks to Inter’s decision not to take part in any intercontinental tournaments, he won’t lose too much time travelling around for friendly matches either, which will all take place in Italy or in Europe and thus allow the squad to depart and return home on the same day.
“Inter should play their first pre-season friendly in Switzerland against Lugano on 14 July, before another couple of games near home (perhaps in Chiasso or Sesto San Giovanni) and then the three International Champions Cup matches [which have not yet been finalised] that will lead them up to the opening weekend of the Serie A season, on 18-19 August.”
