Former striker Antonio Cassano feels that midfielder Davide Frattesi is better than his Inter Milan teammate Nicolo Barella.
The ex-Inter, Roma, and Real Madrid striker made the bold claim on Viva el Futbol, via FCInterNews.
Frattesi has been one of the player who’s really used the international break as an opportunity to demonstrate his qualities.
The 24-year-old has started in both of Italy’s Nations League fixtures during the break.
And Frattesi has been the Azzurri’s outstanding performer.
The Inter midfielder capped off two fine displays with goals in both matches. This has cemented him as Italy’s top scorer under coach Luciano Spalletti.
But it’s been a different story at Inter at the start of the campaign.
Cassano: “Davide Frattesi Better Than Nicolo Barella”
Frattesi has appeared in all three of Inter’s Serie A matches so far this season. But only as a substitute.
The reason has not been hard to see.
The first-choice trio of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Hakan Calhanoglu, and Nicolo Barella has kept its place.
Naturally, displacing any of those three will be very tough for Frattesi.
On paper, Barella would be the most direct competitor for a spot in terms of style of play.
But in the view of the ever-opinionated Cassano, Frattesi is actually already the superior midfielder to his club and international teammate.
Cassano complained that Frattesi “Is never taken into consideration at Inter.”
“And then for the national team, he’s absolutely the best player of the Spalletti era,” he continued.
Cassano argued that “Last time I said that in my opinion, he’s better than Barella.”
The former striker argued that “Frattesi is not really the kind of player who I go crazy for.”
“But he plays very well in both phases. He makes great runs into space, he has goals in his legs.”
“He gets through a ton of work,” Cassano praised the Inter and Italy midfield. “And he wins the ball – in fact Kean’s goal against Israel starts with him.”
