Denzel Dumfries will start for Inter Milan against Udinese in Serie A this evening.
This according to today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews.
This season, there has been just one position in Inter’s starting eleven where there is any doubt as to who the first-choice starter is.
That is on the right flank. Both Dumfries and Matteo Darmian have played a significant amount of minutes there.
Dumfries has had some injury and fitness issues that have seen him either miss matches altogether, or not quite look at his best.
On the other hand, former Manchester United and Torino veteran Darmian has continued to prove his reliability.
Moreover, the arrival of Benjamin Pavard and Yann Bisseck last summer means that right-wingback looks to once again be Darmian’s main position in the team after the 34-year-old had spent the second half of last season playing at centre-back.
Denzel Dumfries To Start For Inter Vs Udinese – “Test” For The Future?
In recent weeks, it has mostly been Darmian who has started.
Dumfries had gotten the nod from the start against Atletico Madrid in last month’s ill-fated Champions League round of sixteen second leg.
But it has been more than a month since the former PSV wingback has started in Serie A.
However, the Corriere report, Dumfries will have his chance this evening.
Inter travel to Friuli to face Udinese. And the Dutchman will start on the right as the Nerazzurri aim to take one more big step towards the Serie A title.
And the Corriere note that there is plenty of significance to how Dumfries performs. This evening, and over the remainder of the season in general.
It is still far from certain that Dumfries will be an Inter player at the start of next season.
The 27-year-old’s current contract runs out at the end of next June.
Inter will certainly not want to have the player heading into the final season of his deal. Then they would risk losing him on a free transfer, as had happened with Milan Skriniar last summer.
Therefore, the Nerazzurri’s intention is clear. Either Dumfries signs a new contract, or they will aim to sell the player.
There have been negotiations to try and agree an extension.
But reports have suggested that there is still a fair bit of distance between Inter’s offer and Dumfries’s demands.
So the outcome of those talks is to be determined.
And how Dumfries plays in the run-in of this season, could certainly influence Inter’s ultimate decision.
