Luciano Spalletti played a decisive role in convincing Radja Nainggolan to rejoin him at Inter, according to Corriere dello Sport.

Nainggolan is expected to join the Nerazzurri over the next fortnight in a deal that will see Roma receive around €22 million in cash and a couple of Inter’s academy talents, where he will be reunited with the coach who helped him score 14 goals in all competitions – the highest tally of his career – during the 2016-17 season.

And according to reports in Wednesday’s edition of the Rome-based paper, it was Spalletti himself who definitively convinced the Belgian midfielder to accept a move to San Siro.

“Leaving aside the economic aspects of the deal, Spalletti has played a decisive role in the completion of this transfer,” they write.

“He has called Nainggolan on several occasions over the last few weeks – including in the days after his exclusion from Belgium’s World Cup squad – guaranteeing him a central role in Inter’s project going forward and the chance to play as a trequartista again, the position he learned to appreciate during his last season under the coach at Roma.”