All of Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella, defender Alessandro Bastoni, and striker Lautaro Martinez had begun to establish themselves as top talents under Antonio Conte, but it has been under Simone Inzaghi that they’ve truly come into their own.
This is the view in Italian news outlet Gazzetta.it, who argue that Martinez above all has truly found his best form playing under Inzaghi after showing clear signs of his potential under the prior coach Conte.
All three of Barella, Bastoni, and Martinez were Serie A title-winners at a very early age, playing key roles in the Nerazzurri’s Scudetto triumph in the 2020-21 season under Conte in their early twenties.
Accordingly, each of the trio will have been expected to play a key role under the coach who took over from Conte, Inzaghi.
So it has proven, but if anything, all three have found themselves playing even better under Inzaghi than they had been doing under his predecessor.
In Barella’s case, the former Cagliari has really been unlocked as an attacking force, as the somewhat more expansive tactics of Inzaghi have allowed him to get into the final third more often and combine with teammates around the penalty area.
Now, the 26-year-old has grown from being a force in the midfield battle to a player who does not have to sacrifice his midfield duties in order to get into the double digits for goals and assists in a single season.
Meanwhile, Bastoni is another player who looks to have been enjoying his football under the proactive approach used by Inzaghi.
The 23-year-old has been marauding forward more than ever from the left side of Inter’s back three, whilst his incisive passing, crossing, and dribbling have been used as a weapon more and more to try and unlock matches.
However, even more than these two, the Gazzetta argues that it is Martinez who has truly taken a step up playing under Inzaghi compared to when Conte was in charge.
The Argentine was already an important player under Conte, as he formed one half of the Nerazzurri’s highly effective first-choice strike pair alongside Romelu Lukaku.
However, the sense was always that, throughout the two seasons that Conte was in charge, it had been Lukaku who was the real driving force in attack, and the Belgian had both more goals and more assists than Martinez in both of those two campaigns.
Now, by contrast, Martinez has found a more central role for himself in attack under Inzaghi.
This will have only been natural in the coach’s first season in charge, given that Lukaku left the Nerazzurri to join Chelsea in the summer of 2021, and Martinez had to become the main man alongside new arrivals Edin Dzeko and Joaquin Correa.
However, even after Lukaku’s much-heralded return on loan from Chelsea last summer, the Argentine has continued to look like Inter’s focal point in attack, a clear sign of a positive relationship with a coach who has really found the best way to use him.
