We can’t compete with big Premier League clubs… or Arsenal! - Inter
Robin Bairner
- 17 Dec 2021 08:14 GMT
- 3 min read
Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has lamented his club’s inability to compete financially with teams from the Premier League – and perhaps unwittingly destroyed Arsenal in the process.
The Serie A champions were forced to sell off key players in the summer, with Romelu Lukaku notably departing for Chelsea, having fired the Nerazzurri to domestic glory.
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Achraf Hakimi was offloaded to Paris Saint-Germain, and the Italians were limited in their scope to sign a replacement due to the financial muscle in England.
Head coach Antonio Conte would also leave due to club’s inability to make the headway he would have wished in the transfer market. He now finds himself in the Premier League with Tottenham.
Meanwhile, their biggest summer addition was right-back Zinho Vanheusden, who cost them just €16 million from Standard Liege before being shipped out on loan to Genoa for the season.
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Inter: We can't compete with Premier League
In January, it may be that Inter lose Marcelo Brozovic to Manchester United or Newcastle, with the Croatia international midfielder out of contract at the end of the season.
It is a situation that Inter have grown used to, and Ausilio lamented: “Speaking generally about the current footballing system, today there is too much of a difference in revenues between the Premier League and Serie A.
“You can see it when you compete against Premier League teams. It is hard to compete not just with the big teams, but also sometimes with West Ham, Leicester or Arsenal.”
Inter are once again top of Serie A this season but a fascinating title race is developing in Italy.
The defending champions are closely followed by Milan and Atalanta, while Napoli have fallen four points off the pace after suffering from injury issues have making an excellent start to the season.
