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28 March 2024

Gasperini hits out Inter broken promises

Published
By AFP

Gian Piero Gasperini has broken his five-month silence over his ill-fated five-game spell as Inter Milan coach, accusing president Massimo Moratti of breaking promises.

Gasperini spent less than three months in the job after being hired in the summer to replace Leonardo, who departed to become sporting director at Paris St Germain.

But having lost four of his five official games in charge, and drawn the other one, Gasperini was unceremoniously dismissed and replaced by Claudio Ranieri.

But now the former Genoa coach has spoken out about his treatment during those calamitous three months, in which Samuel Eto'o was sold to Russians Anzhi Makhachkala, stripping Gasperini of his most potent attacking weapon before the season even began.

"I was told that due to financial fairplay a big player would have to leave but that Eto'o would stay," Gasperini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"The aim was to regenerate a team that had shown signs of fatigue and to start to prepare for the change.
"Ok, given the injuries we had all I wanted was (Rodrigo) Palacio, a midfielder and a defender.

"They were thinking about (Arturo) Vidal, I also liked (Radja) Nainggolan who wasn't signed by Inter.

"Same for (Domenico) Criscito, not to mention Palacio, who was available.

"They wanted (Alexis) Sanchez, (Ezequiel) Lavezzi and (Carlos) Tevez, all much less available.

"With a trident of Palacio, (Diego) Milito and Eto'o I was ready to take on the world.

"We didn't need much, just two or three players, not the nine new ones Inter have signed.

"And that in the face of (financial) fair-play. That's the big regret I have, we didn't need much to do well."

Gasperini also complained that Inter's transfer policy, which in Italy is run by the club management rather than the coach, took place too late in the day, meaning he was well into pre-season preparation when his sqaud was being changed.

"The problem in the transfer markert was getting rid of Eto'o," he said.

"(Diego) Forlan and (Mauro) Zarate joined but they're both very different to Palacio.

"And it was last minute, but a big team needs to be defined before the beginning of pre-season so they can work together.

"In July half the squad was playing at the Copa America, in August the other half went away on international duty, I only had the whole squad together for three days before the league started."