Now that the dust has finally settled and the collective heartbeat of Interisti is back to normal, its time to take stock of who was the most consistent performer in Inter colors in this tumultuous season.
No single player stands out heads and shoulders as most suffered from lack of form, injuries, Whatsapp audio recordings, wives going on talk-shows and agents unwilling to renew amongst other reasons.
But all that is in the past now as Inter qualified for the Champions League for the second year in a row somehow, thanks to Luciano Spalletti doing just enough to push Inter over the line in the final minutes at the Meazza.
The SempreInter.com player of the season is given to the player that has the highest average rating and it is none other than the man who played every single minute this season in Serie A and in Europe, Samir Handanovic.
Captain Samir kept a total of 17 clean sheets this season, 2 more than the next best in Serie A. He had a few downers at the start of the season, especially the mess up with Belotti at home and the lucky escape in Eindhoven. But focusing on that would be wrong because he had a majestic season otherwise.
Yes, he isn’t solely responsible for keeping so many clean sheets but when your defense is that good, keeping your concentration up is tougher job for many quality keepers. His ability has always been hotly debated on most social media channels that focus on Inter but nobody can disagree that he saved his best for when Inter needed it most against Empoli.
He played a huge part in getting us over the line into the promised land of Champions League. He was given the captains armband in a divided dressing room post the January transfer window. This is the time where many Inter teams over the last decade have crashed and burned but somehow he got through it and towards the end looked like a leader.
At 34, he might not have many years left in the tank but he’s not showing it on the field. Handanovic Came in 3rd in our Player of the Season last year.
Coming in 2nd place this season, it is surely the future Inter captain, Milan Skriniar. If you need 15 minutes to look through the ratings and the season to find a poor Skriniar game and you find only one, it means he has had a terrific season.
His worst performance came in Bergamo but everything else was way above what anyone else in this team could produce. He missed 3 Serie A games and truth be told Miranda made us realize that he isn’t at the same level as Skriniar.
The icing on the cake is he rarely gets booked because he doesn’t make mistakes often. He only got booked 4 times in 35 Serie A appearances, a stat which is world class. To top off his performances on the pitch, his physical strength in how he plays and the silent leadership he displays, is always how he conducts himself also off the pitch.
His conduct when there were issues behind the scenes with his agent stalling during his renewal, says a lot. The fact that he sacked the same agent and spoke to Inter directly to sign on the dotted line speaks volumes about his desire to be at Inter.
He’s on his way to become one of the best defenders in the world and his personality has a 90’s Serie A vibe to it. That could only be a good thing. Last season he was our player of the year, this year he’s still in the top 3.
Rounding off the top 3 is surely Inter’s signing of the season in Stefan de Vrij. Lotito have long made fools of Inter and its transfer gurus, with some deals that haven’t worked out for Inter to say the least.
This time though they were not happy to give Stefan away for nothing and it showed during the season. Inter Media House made him build a wall in his presentation video, and he did exactly that. Inter had one of the most solid defenses in Europe and the fact that 3 pillars of our team are the top three players of the season, illustrates this fact even more.
The only major mistake that one can remember, is letting Jovic through at home to concede the goal that would knock us out of the Europa League. He made his presence felt in both boxes, as he also bagged a couple of goals in the league to add to the assist for Vecino, for the winning goal in that Tottenham game, that kick-started Inter’s best run of games last season.
Still only 27, the future is bright for Stefan and his 3 man defence experience will come handy under Conte next season.
Quick honorary mention to Marcelo Brozovic and Lautaro Martinez, who rounded off the top 5 Inter players this season.
Do you agree with the choices for the player of the season? Who did you expect to see?
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