Nicolo Barella’s mental strength is his best quality as a player, at least according to Tommaso Giulini, the president of his former club Cagliari.

The Inter and Italy midfielder has earned rave reviews for his performance in Sunday’s Derby d’Italia victory over Juventus and was reported in Tuesday’s newspapers to be attracting interest from Europe’s biggest clubs, such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

The 23-year-old, who is 18 months into his spell at Inter, has taken another leap in quality this season compared to last and his numbers are very similar to those of Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, who is widely regarded as one of the best central midfielders around.

“His real strength is his mental strength,” Cagliari owner Giulini remarked in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport today.

“In his head he thinks only about winning.

“He has an innate ability to personify the concept of ‘ambition pushed to the extreme’.

“Everything thereafter becomes a natural consequence, when combined with his enormous talent.”

This season Barella has made 25 appearances in all competitions for Inter, in which he has scored two goals – including one against Juventus last weekend – and provided eight assists for his teammates.