Former Inter forward Antonio Cassano has surprisingly revealed he is not a fan of Nicolo Barella.
Barella is the Nerazzurri’s man of the moment after starring in Sunday’s Derby d’Italia victory over Juventus at San Siro, with a performance which has earned him widespread praise in the Italian media.
However, Cassano, who has never been shy to voice his opinion, admitted the former Cagliari midfielder did little to enthuse him.
“Barella is good enough to play for a top team, he is a player you need, but I still don’t like him as a player, he doesn’t excite me,” the former Italy international explained in a discussion with Christian Vieri on Vieri’s Twitch channel, Bobo TV.
“I like quality players, I like Stefano Sensi more than Barella.”
Barella is reportedly attracting interest from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich after arguably his performance for Inter since joining in the summer of 2019, but he is thought to be keen on staying long-term with Antonio Conte’s side.
Inter’s former owner and president Massimo Moratti likened the midfielder to Manchester United legend Paul Scholes yesterday.
Cassano then discussed the Nerazzurri’s performance against Juve on Sunday, for which he was far more complimentary.
“Inter absolutely demolished Juve from start to finish, they played an incredible match,” he added.
“Andrea Pirlo has only become a coach recently but it’s not like he was incapable of winning against Conte, he could have done better.
“I would have bet on Juventus to win after the great personality they had shown against AC Milan and then in the game against Sassuolo.
“I don’t know if it was a great Inter or a bad Juve performance.”
Cassano joined Inter in 2012 from city rivals AC Milan but spent just a season with the club before being moved on to Parma.