Piero Ausilio has reassured Inter supporters that there are no plans to sell key players in the summer.
Inter secured their first Serie A title in 11 years on Sunday but the Nerazzurri remain in a difficult financial position, with uncertainty over the future of head coach Antonio Conte.
Reports in Italy have speculated that Inter might need to sell some of their stars to balance the books, but Ausilio has moved to quash those rumours for the time being.
“Our idea is to do things well and we’re not thinking about selling players,” Inter’s sporting director told Sky Sport Italia today, after taking part in wild celebrations for the Nerazzurri’s Serie A title at Appiano Gentile.
“It’s premature to talk about these things though, we’ve not discussed the matter yet.
“I know which players are considered key and we’ll make sure the best players stay, while also making our sporting needs coincide with our economic requirements.
“We like winning and we want to continue to do so.”
Conte’s future remains in doubt because Inter’s head coach has yet to meet owners Suning to discuss their plans for the club.
Asked for his views on what Conte was likely to do, Ausilio said: “The coach has a desire to prove himself again, just like all of us here.
“We want to develop and keep improving, but we need to be honest and affront issues which will be dealt with at the right moment.
“There are economic situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which have led to reduced revenues around the world.
“I don’t think we’ll have an official meeting (with Conte) like we did last summer (at Villa Bellini), there’ll be meetings like in all other seasons but in a normal manner and in a private setting.”
Ausilio was asked for an update on Inter’s various contract talks with players, most notably Alessandro Bastoni and Lautaro Martinez.
“We haven’t suspended any talks (in order to focus on the scudetto),” he assured.
“A lot of them are already sorted, like with Bastoni; we’ve had talks over his contract many times and we’ve almost reached the end (of negotiations).
“Once we’ve resolved the club’s new financial projects we’ll think about contract extensions, starting with Bastoni.
“With Lautaro we were at a good stage in talks, but he’s changed his agent and we’ll need to reopen all the negotiations, if not start again.”
Ausilio insisted he did not want to think about Inter’s plans for next season yet because the Nerazzurri still had games to play this season.
“The moment to plan everything hasn’t arrived yet, there are four games left and we need to honour the league as best we can and finish the season well.
“Then we’ll have time to sort everything with the coach and the club, but we first want to enjoy this success and we’d like to do it soon with our fans as well.”
Pushed on what it takes to create a winning cycle, Ausilio responded: “I’m fairly certain that we’ll have to be capable of maintaining the quality of this team, while also thinking most of all about the financial aspect.
“Up until this year I’ve only been focused on creating a virtuous cycle; now we’ve finally managed to win a trophy, but I don’t have the experience yet on how to marry the two concepts.”
Conte has transformed Inter’s fortunes by giving them a winning mentality and Ausilio explained why he was the perfect coach to get the Nerazzurri winning again.
“All these years in which we hadn’t won anything had added pressure that only a winner like Conte could have handled,” he said.
“He’s the added value of this team, but there are excellent and capable people at Inter in every area of the club.
“I thought there’d be many teams fighting for the Serie A title at the start of the season, but we have a great squad with quality and Conte has made the difference.
“He’d probably have done the same if he’d been in charge of other teams, but thankfully we have him here.”
Christian Eriksen was a key figure in the second half of the season for Inter and Ausilio was full of praise for the Danish midfielder’s dedication.
“He is an unbelievable professional, he surprised us (as well as everyone else).
“It took him a while to integrate himself into the side, but we’re really happy to talk about the contribution he’s given to the team now.”
Ausilio also spoke about the news of Jose Mourinho returning to Serie A, after Roma announced the Special One as their next head coach yesterday.
“He will make a huge difference,” Ausilio assured.
“Mourinho is a brilliant coach who will do very well at Roma, but he’ll be good for all of Italian football.
“He’s a positive character who’ll give everyone lots to talk about, on and off the pitch.
“I’m very happy to have him back among us in Serie A.”
Asked if Inter had ever really had the chance to rehire Mourinho, Ausilio assured: “No, there has never been the possibility or the opportunity.
“We were on a difficult journey and we weren’t ready as a club back then to reappoint Mourinho.
“We started this process and now we’ve concluded it today with a positive ending, after a lot of hard work and thanks to Conte.”