Inter goalkeeper Andrei Radu has everything required to carve out a great career, according to his former Primavera boss Stefano Vecchi.
Radu was due to stand in for Samir Handanovic for Inter’s Serie A fixture against Sasssuolo last Saturday, after the Slovenian tested positive for COVID-19.
However, the former Romania under-21 international saw his big chance taken away when the game was postponed and rescheduled for April 7.
“Back then we considered Radu as someone who was destined to succeed,” Vecchi recalled in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday.
“I think he’s a complete goalkeeper, he’s capable of occupying his goal in the correct way.
“He has a good right foot, sometimes he exaggerates, and physically he’s sound.
“Radu is a cheerful and enthusiastic person, very alert and intelligent.”
Radu has only ever made one first-team appearance for Inter and that came way back on the final day of the 2015-16 season, when Roberto Mancini brought him on as a second-half substitute in a defeat at Sassuolo.
He got his first taste of senior football on loan at Avellino in Serie B, before moving up to Italy’s top flight by joining Genoa and Parma.
The 23-year-old spent three years working under Vecchi in Inter’s academy before graduating to senior football in 2017.
Radu also received an endorsement from his former Primavera teammate Michael Ventre this week, who argued the goalkeeper was good enough to become Samir Handanovic’s successor at Inter.