During their preseason tour of Japan, Inter will play Al-Nassr and PSG, but Simone Inzaghi faces two significant issues: one in goal and the other in attack
On Sunday, the Nerazzurri departed for Asia, although Inzaghi’s squad is yet incomplete. Coach Inzaghi is particularly concerned about the goalkeeper position because the team has not yet secured successors for André Onana and Samir Handanovic.
The three goalkeepers selected by the Nerazzurri manager for the preseason tour in Japan are Alessandro Calligaris, 18, Filip Stankovic, 21, and Raffaele Di Gennaro, son of Inter icon Dejan.
Di Gennaro, 29, graduated from Inter’s academy but joined Catanzaro on a free transfer in 2019. After spending the previous campaign at Serie C team Gubbio, he made his Stadio Meazza comeback as a free agent earlier this summer. The only goalkeeper that Inter has added so far during the summer transfer window is Di Gennaro.
It goes without saying that Inter’s top objectives to replace Handanovic and Onana are Yann Sommer and Anatoliy Trubin, but Beppe Marotta has not yet struck a deal with either Bayern Munich or Shakhtar Donetsk. David De Gea, a former goalkeeper for Manchester United, has also been mentioned as a potential Inter reinforcement.
On the other side of the field, Inzaghi has another problem. At the end of 2022–2023, Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku left Inter, although the club has only added one striker thus far: Marcus Thuram, who joined on a free transfer from Borussia Mönchengladbach
Thuram, Lautaro Martinez, and Joaquin Correa have joined Sebastiano Esposito, Giovanni Fabbian, Aleksandar Stankovic, and Giacomo Stabile in Japan, but Inzaghi intended to have a new center striker in place in time for the preseason tour.
Alvaro Morata’s agents have been contacted after the Nerazzurri released Romelu Lukaku, but they are unwilling to meet the striker’s €21 million release clause. Another top transfer target for the Serie A heavyweights, according to Football Italia, is Arsenal’s Folarin Balogun, who is followed by Udinese forward Beto and West Ham’s Gianluca Scamacca, who is also wanted by Roma.
