The signing of Romelu Lukaku has bumped Inter up into being obvious favourites to win the Serie A title next season, according to Italian media.
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport argue that, at least until the Nerazzurri’s rivals respond with signings of their own during the transfer window, the return of the Belgian on loan from Chelsea means that it’s Simone Inzaghi’s Scudetto to lose.
Inter narrowly missed out on the title last season, with a rough patch of form during February and March ultimately decisive compared to city rivals AC Milan who showed more consistency in the decisive moments.
Coach Inzaghi had hoped to win the Serie A title in his first season as Nerazzurri boss, but his wait goes on, as does the suggestion that he is not quite a coach who is at ease fighting for the most important honours in Italian football yet.
Next campaign, however, the former Lazio boss will have Lukaku at his disposal, a player who had been the key man in Inter’s Scudetto win under Antonio Conte during the season before last.
Now, it will be up to Inzaghi to prove that, as with his predecessor Conte, he can unlock the Belgian’s best and dominate the Italian top flight.
The 46-year-old will also have had one more preseason, not to mention the experience of a hard-fought campaign with this group of players, under his belt.
Moreover, Lukaku is far from the only piece of transfer business which the Nerazzurri have done this season, with no end in sight to both sales and signings.
Meanwhile, major rivals such as Milan and Juventus have kept their powder relatively dry in the transfer market so far this window, and could always shift the balance by improving their own squads.
However, as things stand, the Corriere see Inzaghi and Lukaku as the ones who will go into the season with the expectation of delivering to Inter the twentieth Italian top flight title in the club’s history.
