The past days in Inter’s world has focused on one huge novelty: Beppe Marotta is just a step away from becoming a powerful figure with the Nerazzurri. Such news divided the fan base, with many in favour and a substantial number against. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.
The Good
The good news is that Marotta has been proclaimed as one of the finest Italian directors of all time. It was in 2014, when the Italian football authorities inserted Marotta’s name in their hall of fame under the category of Italian managers alongside historic figures such as Massimo Moratti and Adriano Galliani. But this award is only the tip of the iceberg, as it was the reward of a marvellous career.
It was under Marotta as General Manager that lowly-side Venezia achieved a historic promotion to Serie A in 1998. Even back then Marotta with a restricted budget, managed to attract two players which seemed impossible to join such a low side: Filippo Maniero and a certain Alvaro Recoba.
Marotta then made a name for himself when he joined and revolutionized Sampdoria. He entered the fray when the Blucerchiati were in the lower division, but they were soon promoted. He built his Sampdoria teams in a manner to avoid easily the relegation, before he transformed the side to become more ambitious and seek qualifications to European competitions. He managed to do so in after concluding a historic transfer of Italian prodigy Antonio Cassano from Real Madrid and the signing of a hot prospect Giampaolo Pazzini, a striking force which paid its dividends.
It was then no surprise that Marotta was hired by Juventus to sort out its house, as the post-calciopoli era yielded nothing but disasters. In this era, Juventus did not refrain from spending big money but this did not translate into desired results. All this changed under Marotta’s stewardship. It was he who hired Antonio Conte – back then still an unknown manager – and made the right transfers. Among others, he brought to Juventus players like Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra, Fernando Llorente and Dani Alves all for free, and made exceptional bargains with the signings of Carlos Tevez and Arturo Vidal just to name a few.
When Juventus were the strongest force in Italian football, he strengthened the team more by weakening direct rivals Napoli and Roma by paying the release clause of their finest players Gonzalo Higuain and Miralem Pjanic. For sure you cannot criticize Marotta on his lack of business acumen or high-quality strategic maneuvers.
All this permitted Juventus to assert itself and dominate the Italian league for seven consecutive years, registering a huge financial and technical gap with the other domestic teams and reaching the Champions League final twice.
The Bad
One aspect which still fosters doubt among Inter fans on the imminent appointment of Marotta is his past. After all, any transfers between Juventus and Inter are always eyed with suspicion, and even superstars like Ibrahimovic had to prove themselves first after joining from Turin.
It can be considered ludicrous to judge Marotta just on his past, as after all, he was merely doing the job he was being paid for. But the sceptical Inter fans have their own reasons. The appointment of Lippi two decades ago with the humiliation it brought is still fresh in their minds, while Fassone, who also spent time at Juventus before joining Inter will not be remembered with great fervor.
But there are other aspects which may foster criticism and scepticism. For instance, Marotta may not be seen favourably due to his readiness to sacrifice key players. During his Juventus stay, he did not blink an eye to let go club legends like Trezeguet, Del Piero, Buffon and Marchisio, while also selling crowd favourites Pogba, Vidal, Giovinco, Higuain and Kingsley Coman just to name a few.
This surely contrasts with the current Inter scenario where Suning do not take into consideration the sale of its stars, something which may definitely change with Marotta’s signing.
The Reality
When considering the pros and cons, I believe that I would rather have Beppe Marotta on our side than against us. Throughout his career, he delivered exceptional results both in financial terms as well as trophies, which are what ultimately matter in football.
Yes, his past is Bianconero, but if he achieves at Inter what he achieved in Turin I would gladly forgive him for his past life.
James J Piscopo is a journalist based in Malta. 27 years old, he has been following Inter for more than two decades. He writes a weekly editorial exclusively for SempreInter.com