Gazzetta dello Sport believe that Inter manager Luciano Spalletti has no less than five ‘great players’ to support club captain and talisman Mauro Icardi in attack this season and have taken a look at each of the handful of players individually.
Ivan Perisic: “Ask him for an assist: he delivers. You ask him for a goal: he does the same. You ask for a sprint: he does it. Ask him to decide a match: he can do it. Perisic is not yet at the top of his game in terms of fitness but he is already the player to have offered most to Inter in the role of playmaker to date.
Radja Nainggolan: “On the character front the Ninja gives temperament and ability to jump on the opponent – whether it is a high pressing phase or a containment phase it does not matter to him – as well as a personality sufficient to catch and play the ball in times of difficulty. On the technical level, Nainggolan adds a unique quality in the team. He is one who will also go dancing at the disco, of course but when he makes a deal with his coach, he hardly betrays.”
Matteo Politano: “Politano gives Inter a decisive starting point in terms of assists and quality. He can also play alongside Icardi, as a second striker. In general, however, the structure seen against Torino – where he and Perisic played behind Mauro – allows Spalletti to quickly transform the attack and to widen the two trequartisti up to build a 3-4-3. His quality is something that Spalletti can not underestimate.”
Keita Balde: “Keita needs to be nurtured, he needs to understand exactly what Spalletti wants from him. Once the passage has been completed, the technician can only expect from the Senegalese a fundamental quality, that is the ability to skip past his man and thus create a numerical superiority in attack. It is true that Keita can play in more positions and that he is mainly a winger but it is in the middle of the field, perhaps mixing it with a compatible partner, where can give to Icardi and Inter, adding unpredictability to the attack.”
Lautaro Martinez: “Lautaro has theoretically a lot of goals in him which none of the other players in the number 10 role have. The most difficult part for him is to establish himsefl in Italy, as he has already succeeded in Argentina. The call of from the national team will complicate the growth plan at Appiano Gentile as next week he will fly to international duty.
