Inter’s attack has developed more of a right-sided focus at the start of the season, with wingback Denzel Dumfries becoming a key contributor down his flank.
This according to Italian news outlet FCInter1908, who note that the Dutchman’s hard work last season has paid off as he has appeared to be more of a focal point for the team’s attack now that he is fully settled into his role.
Inter had heavily used their right side during Antonio Conte’s second season at the club when they won the Scudetto, as the presence of right-wingback Achraf Hakimi meant that one of the team’s most potent attacking weapons played in the position.
Last season, Dumfries arrived as the Moroccan’s replacement, but the former PSV wingback did not immediately bring his level up to that of his predecessor, as it was often Matteo Darmian who started on the right ahead of him.
In the meantime, Ivan Perisic grew into a highly influential role at left-wingback under Simone Inzaghi and became arguably the team’s most consistently effective outlet in attack, meaning that Inter’s attack gravitated towards his flank on the left.
Like Hakimi last summer, Perisic left Inter at the start of this summer’s transfer window, leaving the Nerazzurri rebuilding their wide attacking plan in his absence.
And as Perisic had been the one to really step up and shift the focus of the attack with Hakimi gone, it looks to be Dumfries who is the man to try and replicate the 33-year-old’s contribution by switching the focus of the attack to his side of the pitch.
On the left flank, the likes of Robin Gosens, Federico Dimarco, and Matteo Darmian are vying to try and hold down the position, but it remains to be seen if any of them will reach close to the levels that Perisic did last season.
Accordingly, it is Dumfries who could become the team’s most potent outlet in wide areas this season, and he is ready to be exactly that if his early displays are anything to go by.
The Dutchman was Inter’s match-winner off the bench in their Serie A opener against Lecce, and in his starting appearance against Spezia, he was one of the brightest players on the pitch.
In his first season, Dumfries could not really have been said to have been Hakimi’s heir, as he did not hit the ground running and needed time to adjust before he could show flashes of his quality on a more regular basis and cement his place in the starting eleven.
However, the work that the 26-year-old did all through last season as well as this summer has seen him grow into a more important figure than ever within the team, and it looks as though even if he was not able to replace Hakimi like-for-like, he could be the man to step up and take Perisic’s mantle up,
