Inter director Beppe Marotta believes long-standing rivals Juventus are the favourties for the Serie A title this season. The Nerazzurri boss was speaking with La Gazzetta dello Sport about the race for the Scudetto, the Nerazzurri’s challenges in the Champions League campaign, and the work the club have done to reduce their wage bill:
Then let’s get straight to it. Do you have a favourite for this championship? Do you fear Milan or Juventus more?
“I won my first Scudetto in Turin with Antonio Conte without European commitments. Experience tells me that being able to plan the season with only the championship and the Coppa Italia is an advantage. That’s why I say that Juventus is the favourite for the Scudetto’.
And yet, you managers and the players themselves are very much in favour of the second star. Why?
‘I say no to excess prudence and humility. If you are at Inter, you must be ambitious, the bar must be high. We have to believe in it. The difference is saying ‘we are the best’: that would be arrogance’.
We turn the question around: why should Inter win this Scudetto? Give us a reason.
“Because we feel strong and have a high regard for ourselves, which is the result of our results in Europe last season. And we know how much the fans care about this Scudetto, which coincides with the second star.”
What kind of start to the season was it?
“It was the year of the biggest change in the squad, 12 new players arrived. Despite this, I judge our start to be very positive.
But Sassuolo and Bologna…
“Unfavourable circumstances. And of course, there were also mistakes. But I don’t think there was any relaxation after the 5-1 derby. Rather, we have to train ourselves to fight against dips in tension and mental fatigue’.
Torino, Salzburg and Roma: is Inter ready?
‘It must be. With Ausilio we have put together a squad capable of responding to these demands’.
Is Inter the most complete?
‘Definitely yes. It’s the most homogenous, we feel guaranteed in all roles.
Even in attack?
“If we look at the numbers, the department has worked great: there hasn’t been a single game in which we’ve run out of goals. Rather, we conceded avoidable goals. And the Scudetto is won with the best defence.”
Your first Inter side, 2018-19, had more or less the same wage bill as today: €116 million. Yet now you are running for the Scudetto. What does that mean?
“I answer like this. Reducing costs is one of the objectives, but competitiveness must never drop. Let me explain: important players necessarily come with important salaries. More than reducing costs, then, I am interested in maximising resources. If you are at a big club, a club that wants to win, the wage bill can never fall below a certain amount.
Why will Lautaro extend his contract?
“It is right that the club pays attention to the situations of its players: on the one hand you protect the asset, on the other you strengthen the sense of belonging. Lautaro is not like Skriniar: if he shows the will to extend, which also corresponds to ours, it means that we are on the right path and the marriage can continue for a long time. Having loyal players is an added value: if the sense of belonging is missing, a player does not even understand what it means to play or to win a derby. The best thing, for a club, is to have a player who renounces going to more important teams in order to remain linked to his club.
Is he the best player in our league?
‘Yes, at the moment no one is like him’.
