Former Inter goalkeeper Tommaso Berni believes the club made the right choice in turning to Simone Inzaghi to replace Antonio Conte as coach last summer.

Conte walked away from the Nerazzurri after leading them to the Scudetto and has since taken over at Tottenham Hotspur, prompting Inter to swoop for Lazio tactician Inzaghi as his replacement.

The incumbent has guided Inter to second place in the Serie A table with a game in hand, and in an interview published in today’s newspaper edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Berni argued that former Lazio teammate Inzaghi was the natural successor to Conte’s style with the existing squad.

“As soon as we started talking about a separation between Inter and Conte, I immediately thought that Simone was the ideal heir to Antonio,” Berni claimed.

“When he played at Lazio he was a pillar of the dressing room, he made us laugh in moments of tension and when there was some problem to solve, he always had the right words to try to fix things. Inzaghi is a great manager of the group, it is enough to watch Inter matches to understand that the team trusts and follows him carefully. 

“Furthermore, he has always been a football obsessive, he knows all the players, their characteristics, he has a crazy passion for this sport. From a tactical point of view, Inzaghi uses the same style as Conte and this has allowed him not to throw away the excellent work done in the past.

“Even the numbers speak for him. His work with Lazio was convincing, he deserved a great opportunity, and in the end he has proved to be up to Inter.”

As a former goalkeeper, Berni offered his thoughts on the situation at Inter ahead of next season, with Ajax shot-stopper Andre Onana likely to arrive. However, he felt that Samir Handanovic would not automatically become back-up and the Slovenian could challenge Onana for a starting berth.

Handa has experienced what Lautaro has been through in the last month since the beginning of the year. He made some mistakes. After so many years spent in goal, I have a different reading of the dynamics than that of fans,” he continued.

“Often Handanovic has been blamed for not having saved balls that were truly impossible. At the end of the season, it will be enough to do the maths to find out how many points, once again this year, he will have given to his team.

“Once Onana arrives, I believe that there will be healthy competition between the two. Samir is still fine physically, he has never had serious injuries, he will still have his say and will continue to fight for a starting spot. That’s the right thing. If Inter want to grow, they must have two strong goalkeepers, as is the case in all the top clubs.”