Inter Milan Plotting “Inter XXL” Squad For Expanded Season – Iceland International A Key Target

Inter Milan are aiming to go up a couple notches in their strength in depth for next season, with Albert Gudmundsson a key target.

This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews. The newspaper label the club’s plans an “XXL Inter.”

Inter already have a fairly deep squad.

And they have to, considering the fixture congestion that they have faced for the past several seasons.

The Nerazzurri fight on as many as four fronts. There is Serie A, where the bulk of their matches are. But also the Champions League, Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa Italiana.

This season saw Inter play two matches in an expanded Supercoppa format, but exit the Coppa at the round of sixteen stage.

Inter Plot “XXL Squad” – Gudmundsson A Key Target

Next season things will get even worse for Inter from a fixture congestion perspective.

For one thing, UEFA will be expanding the format for the Champions League.

There will be eight matches in the “league stage” rather than six in the current group stage. That’s two extra matches already.

Moreover, Inter will be among the participants in the expanded Club World Cup format next year. That means several extra matches.

So the need for squad depth will be greater than ever for Inter.

And the Nerazzurri don’t just want a squad with a strong starting eleven and then “backup” options.

Rather, Inter are intent on having players capable of coming in to the lineup without there being any drop-off in quality.

That is a big part of the reason why Inter are signing Mehdi Taremi and Piotr Zielinski on free transfers from Porto and Napoli respectively.

The hope is that those players can add more starting-level quality to the squad than the players they will be effectively replacing – Alexis Sanchez and Davy Klaassen.

And Inter aren’t finished with strengthening their attack with Taremi.

The Nerazzurri want to sign another forward who will be capable of not just backing up Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram, but truly pushing to start ahead of them.

And the Gazzetta report that that player looks to be Genoa’s Gudmundsson.

The 26-year-old Icelandic international has ten goals and three assists in Serie A this season. And he also has a versatile profile that’s not really present in Inter’s current squad.

The Nerazzurri want Gudmundsson to take their strength in depth to another level next season.