Samir Handanovic is the new captain of Inter and according to Milano based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, it is a thoughtful choice that finds solid foundations.
In this Inter squad, Handanovic is the one who, after Ranocchia, has the most experience and has always thought of the club as one collective team.
Handanovic was often the ‘joker’ used by the club for interviews on difficult evenings when nobody else wanted or needed to talk. There are also no discussions about his contract or the transfer market in the immediate future.
There was a time when the goalkeeper dreamed of the Champions League and he perhaps thought he could get there through the shortcut of a transfer to another top European club. However, he is almost passionate about the build up to it with Inter, and now that he has found Europe, he can become an expression of an Inter that does not want to self-destruct what they have so painstakingly built together.
The Nerazzurri fans, at least the ones present in Vienna, have already publicly expressed their consent to the change of captaincy. In many ways, Handanovic is the exact opposite of Icardi: He avoids the limelight, his social media usage is minimal and his wife is almost unknown to the general public.
It is not just for this reason, however, that Handanovic will become the first goalkeeper in the history of Inter to become Captain: the group’s esteem for him and the possibility of a different leadership style were also important considerations. The captaincy had been passed to important goalkeeping figures such as as Zenga or Pagliuca in the past temporarily, but now Handanovic is the permanent captain.
His first match was a success, but the debut at the San Siro will be a big emotion. However, making it a normal and regular feeling is the ultimate goal.