Inter may still need to sacrifice key players in the summer despite winning the Serie A title, according to a report in the Italian media today.
Corriere dello Sport’s print edition said it could not be excluded that the Nerazzurri sold one or more star players, although it would take ‘a monster offer’ which didn’t weaken the team too much.
Inter are expected to record a loss between €130-150 million at the end of the current financial year on June 30, meaning they need to pick up money by selling players.
They will try to secure those funds by offloading youngsters such as Lucien Agoume, Federico Dimarco, Samuele Mulattieri, Lorenzo Pirola or Sebastiano Esposito – and potentially selling a ‘big player’ too.
Romelu Lukaku is unlikely to be the player Inter sacrifice, with the Rome-based paper explaining that he would cost more than €120 million.
Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolo Barella and Achraf Hakimi are also considered key players that would be difficult to replace, but there are three others who could be at risk.
Lautaro Martinez’s situation is different to that of Lukaku, the report explained, and he could be sacrificed if Barcelona came back in for him, for instance.
Inter could also consider selling either Milan Skriniar or Stefan de Vrij though, especially the latter with the Dutch defender being managed by Mino Raiola.
Christian Eriksen is more likely to leave than all of those players, with the Dane carrying a heavy salary and attracting lots of attention from the Premier League.
Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal could also be sacrificed to get them off Inter’s wage bill, while Andrea Pinamonti is likely to leave in search of more game time.
Inter would reinvest any money they recouped from selling a key player, the report assured, and their priorities are to sign a left wing-back, ‘at least one striker’, a dynamic midfielder, a couple of defenders and a back-up for Samir Handanovic.
The Nerazzurri could well be tempted to dip into the free agent market, as they would not command a transfer fee.
