Inter chief executive Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Marotta has shared his thoughts and feelings ahead of Inter’s match against Barcelona in the Champions League.
“This is a great advert for football. Two important clubs in Barcelona and Inter, who have written history will face off. If we were to win if would be the icing on the cake,” he told Italian broadcaster Sport Mediaset.
He was then asked how qualification could change Inter’s transfer market plans.
“First of all there must be great respect for this group of players who have done very well so far this season. Then the January market is generally quite dry with minimal opportunities but we nevertheless look at it with enthusiasm but any player that we try to sign must be better than what we have.
Next Marotta was asked about the links in the media to Udinese’s Rodrigo de Paul.
“de Paul is one of the most interesting youngsters in our league. He is owned by Udinese therefore our evaluations are general at the moment. He is a talent but saying we’re negotiating for him or have contacted him is going too far.”
Marotta, who has held his current position for around a year, then moved on to discuss Lautaro Martinez.
“We are Inter and do not necessarily have to sell anyone. We want to grow with important young players like Lautaro and Romelu Lukaku.
“Having said that, the destiny of a player is inside their own minds. If Lautaro wants to continue with us, we will be happy about that. At this moment, he is tied to us and we are happy. If he wants to take a different path, we’ll evaluate the situation.”
Marotta was then quizzed on the continued links to Arturo Vidal.
“As for Vidal, he is an excellent player, a real football warrior. Barcelona are unlikely to let him go, but he too is a name on our shortlist.”
In conclusion he spoke on whether he expected the team to be in this position.
“I have to say that being here is a bit surprising even though I was confident in the manager and the players. There is some regret for the result against Dortmund as things could have been different. Today it is imperative to win.”
