Inter gave Italy boss Roberto Mancini a helping hand on Monday by using seven Italians in their win over Lecce, as reported by La Stampa.

Serie A’s teams continued a worrying trend during the opening weekend of the new season, with 60% of the players used coming from abroad.

Last season’s top eight clubs had a 66% contingent of foreign players, but Inter bucked the trend by starting with four Italians and finishing with six.

Danilo D’Ambrosio, Andrea Ranocchia, Antonio Candreva and Stefano Sensi were named in Antonio Conte’s starting XI at San Siro while Nicolo Barella, Roberto Gagliardini and Matteo Politano all came on as substitutes.

As many as 32 foreign players made their debut in Italy’s top flight at the weekend, with 45 nations represented in total (including those who were already in Serie A last season).

Inter’s block of homegrown talent will rise even further on Wednesday with Cristiano Biraghi set to complete a loan move from Fiorentina.