Italian journalist Michele Criscitiello feels that there are still a lot of doubts around Inter’s squad after the slew of arrivals that came in during the summer transfer window.
Writing in his column for Italian news outlet TuttoMercatoWeb, Criscitiello particularly noted the situation of goalkeeper Andre Onana behind Samir Handanovic in particular as an outstanding situation that has lingered after the transfer window has closed.
Inter brought in quite a few players during the summer window, although apart from the return of striker Romelu Lukaku all of the signings have been meant more to flesh out the squad and replace depth options who departed rather than strengthening the starting eleven.
There had been a decent amount of optimism that the new arrivals have given coach Simone Inzaghi greater depth to call upon and a team that is more suited to the kind of football that he wants to play, although so far this has not exactly been evident.
“Inter have dealt with serious issues due to failures to identify Handanovic’s replacement over the years and have ended up making him first-choice every season,” Criscitiello notes.
“Cordaz, Radu, Padelli,” he lists, “over time the club should have been working to find a real replacements, and instead they just amassed a collection of third-choice keepers.”
“Now they just have to give unconditional trust to Onana,” he argues, “otherwise he’ll sit on the bench for 35 matches and burn out before he really begins.”
“Inzaghi has his faults, of course, but this team has too many question marks that are dragged from the transfer window,” Criscitiello suggests. “Either extend players or find them playing out their contracts and halfway out the door.”
