Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu has claimed that the Inter squad is better than the one he left at AC Milan, according to a report in the Turkish broadcast media.
Speaking during an interview with Turkish broadcaster S SPort, via FCInter1908, the attacking midfielder spoke very openly about the move he made from AC Milan to become a Nerazzurri player instead.
“When I moved to Inter I had quite a few personal repercussions. I had a difficult period with this situation. After all, Milan had not participated in the Champions League for seven seasons.
“There are many different reasons for my departure. Milan has not explained them. I had everything left. I was happy after scoring the goal because I had suffered a lot.
“They welcomed me very well at Inter. Since I was playing at Milan I have become accustomed to Italy. Now I also know Italian. The team is of the highest quality. I think we have a better squad than Milan.
“I have to thank Simone Inzaghi, he wanted me a lot. At Inter I’m playing a different role. At Milan I was number 10. Here Barella, Brozovic and I alternate in positions 6 and 8.”
The player did admit that it took him some time to adapt to this new role at Inter but he has found his feet now.
“I struggled to adapt to the new role. You have to know what to do and when. I can say that I have found my position. I played this position for the last time in the national team. It suits me very well because I like to take the ball from behind and play.”
Hakan Calhanoglu was largely brought into Inter so that he could replace Christian Eriksen who had just suffered a cardiac arrest whilst playing at EURO 2020.
“Of course it was not easy to replace Eriksen. The expectations were very high. It was not easy to replace names like Lukaku forward and Hakimi on the right. We finished this first part of the season very well. We were 7-8 points behind, but we worked hard and we closed this first part of the season as first in the standings.”
Hakan Clahanoglu is well known for his set piece taking ability as well as his long range shooting capabilities. Only Lionel Messi has more goals from outside the box this year.
“We work a lot on corners. We work a lot on set pieces in particular. We have three areas on the corners: let’s say the first post, the spot of the penalty spot and the back post. Generally, we try to hit the near post. We have always kicked well and we did very well in this sense.
“I can never compare myself to Messi, but being behind him is a special honour for me. I always try to shoot. My speciality is shooting from outside the box.”
Inter will face Liverpool in the Champions League Round of 16 and Hakan Calhanoglu is clearly looking forward to the tie.
“It will be a difficult match, a very strong opponent. But we did well against Real Madrid both at home and away, but we lost, unfortunately. We will analyze the mistakes. I am very curious to face Liverpool, I hope we will pass the round.”
