Inter had waited until it was confirmed that defender Milan Skriniar would not leave in the January transfer window before they officially announced the signing of young midfielder Ebenezer Akinsanmiro.
According to yesterday’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, this is because the Nerazzurri wanted to keep a non-EU spot in their squad open in case it became important for replacing Skriniar.
Given that there are restrictions on how many non-EU players can be registered by a Serie A team, Inter have had to be mindful of this aspect of their squad.
The departure of Alexis Sanchez last summer opened up a spot, and the club have been considering their strategy on how they would utilize this fact.
Given that Akinsanmiro is a Nigerian player who does not hold an EU passport, the club were aware that having an open non-EU spot would give them the opportunity to sign the 18-year-old, who has been on their radar for some time.
However, the Nerazzurri held off until the end of the January transfer window to formally register and announce the signing of the young midfielder.
According to the Gazzetta, this was because there was uncertainty about whether or not Paris Saint-Germain would sign Skriniar before the end of the transfer window.
Had the Slovakian left last month for a fee, replacing him before the transfer window closed would have been an absolute priority.
In this sense, the Gazzetta notes, having all possible options open would have been important for replacing a key player like Skriniar on short notice.
For this reason, the club did not want to use up their remaining non-EU spot, as they wanted to have the possibility of targeting a non-EU player to replace Skriniar.
