Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu are not travelling as part of the Inter Milan squad to face Chelsea in a friendly tomorrow.
This according to Italian news outlet FCInterNews. They report that the duo have stayed behind along with the four players currently out with injury.
Inter face Chelsea tomorrow afternoon in both teams’ final friendly match before the start of the season.
The Serie A and Premier League seasons both begin next weekend.
For Inter, the campaign begins with an away trip to Genoa next Saturday.
Therefore, tomorrow afternoon’s friendly match at Stamford Bridge represents one final opportunity to take to the pitch and build match fitness before the competitive action starts.
Lautaro Martinez & Hakan Calhanoglu Not Part Of Inter Squad For Friendly Clash Vs Chelsea
Not every member of Inter’s squad has travelled to London for tomorrow’s friendly, however.
Firstly, there are four players who have stayed behind in Milan to work on their injury recoveries at the Nerazzurri training centre.
These are Mehdi Taremi, Marko Arnautovic, Piotr Zielinski, and Stefan de Vrij. All four picked up muscle injuries during preseason, and all are expected to return in the next two or three weeks.
Meanwhile, Tajon Buchanan is still recovering from surgery following a broken leg.
But apart from the injured players there are also two other Inter players not in the squad for tomorrow.
One is captain Lautaro Martinez.
The Argentine returned to training last week following his post-Copa America vacation.
Martinez actually cut his holiday short by a couple of days. This was because injuries to Taremi and Arnautovic mean that he will likely have to start against Genoa in the season opener.
For this reason, Martinez has been working to rapidly reach his best condition for next weekend.
For that reason, it has been decided that staying behind to work on his fitness would be a better use of Martinez’s time than travelling and then playing in the friendly against Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Calhanoglu has a slight muscle problem. It is not a serious injury, but the Turk has been training individually.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi decided not to risk Calhanoglu in tomorrow’s friendly.
The priority is to have the Turkish international at his best for the match against Genoa.
