Milan Skriniar admits he is delighted to have regained his place in Inter’s starting XI this season.
Antonio Conte seemed willing to sacrifice the Slovakian defender last summer, with reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
However, Skriniar did not leave the Nerazzurri and has gone on to start 15 of Inter’s first 20 league games this season.
“I’m very happy,” he revealed in an interview with Sport.sk.
“I was out of the team at the end of last season but they were having success in the Europa League, so the coach had no reason to change his starting XI.
“I’m back in business now though, after being suspended for the first match of the season.
“Then I had an unfortunate period where I caught COVID-19, but I’ve got back to playing full matches since.
“Inter have a great squad where the coach can choose between lots of options, so I have to try and keep my place.
“The fact I made it back into the side in a relatively short space of time is a source of satisfaction for me.”
Skriniar fell out of favour towards the end of last season when Conte started picking Diego Godin ahead of him in the Nerazzurri’s three-man defence.
Inter regained form in Serie A before making it all the way to the Europa League final, where they were beaten 3-2 by Sevilla.
“I played almost every game in Serie A last season but then I was out for the last two games as the coach rotated the squad,” Skriniar recalled.
“The same team played almost every game in the Europa League run and I wasn’t part of it.
“I wasn’t annoyed, though: on the contrary, I helped the team as much as I could.
“The situation has changed now and I think it’ll continue like this, although it’s clear that there are at least two quality players available in each position.”
Skriniar has made 22 appearances in all competitions for Inter this season, playing the full 90 minutes in last night’s 2-1 defeat at home to Juventus in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final.
He has also scored twice, both away from home, against Hellas Verona and Roma.
“I’m very happy to have scored again,” Skriniar said.
“What is particularly pleasing though is the fact those two goals helped the team in both games.
“Against Verona I scored the winning goal and against Roma we got a draw.
“It’s amusing how both goals were identical, both headers from corners.”