Inter, in midfield the real rebus of Christian Chivu: the situation
The last two Inter matches have clearly highlighted the difficulties in midfield. Hakan Calhanoglu is currently the league’s top scorer with 5 goals (2 on penalties) but against Milan he lost the ball that allowed the Rossoneri to win the game and was hypnotized by Mike Maignan when he kicked the penalty. In Madrid, against Cholo Simeone’s Atletico, he had the ball snatched away that triggered the counterattack for Julian Alvarez’s goal. Calhanoglu was substituted against both Milan and Atletico Madrid, a clear sign of the unhappy moment he is experiencing.
There is then the chapter concerning Andy Diouf, a huge question mark for Inter so far. The French star, who landed in Milan at the end of August for 20 million euros (to which another 5 million could be added for various bonuses), has so far totaled just 31 minutes with the Nerazzurri jersey: a practically inexplicable haul for a player who had established himself as one of the pillars of the team in his last experience at Lens. Besides Diouf, Petar Sučić also arrived in Milan in the summer, having been paid almost 15 million euros to wrest him from Dinamo Zagreb. In the nearly 900 minutes so far played with the Nerazzurri colors, there has been only a partial glimpse of the quality of the young Croatian, who has too often alternated good performances with trivial mistakes for a talent of his caliber.
Also in clear trouble is Davide Frattesi, who is failing to impose himself in Christian Chivu’s lineup. The former Sassuolo man has so far totaled 390 minutes between Serie A and the Champions League, a haul that cannot make him happy and could even convince him to make a change of scenery in January. Several clubs are on his trail and the hypothesis of an exchange with Lazio’s Nicolò Rovella has also resurfaced: the negotiation had faded in the summer but could soon be back in vogue given also Maurizio Sarri’s enormous esteem for Frattesi. Watch out also for Roma, which had already made a survey in the summer to bring the Nerazzurri midfielder to the capital.
Inter will try to solve the problems in midfield with the purchase of Morten Frendrup, who has been on the Nerazzurri radar for some time. Class of 2001, the Dane is playing virtually all the time with Patrick Vieira’s Genoa and is one of the best elements in the Grifone’s squad. The Ligurian club, given also the difficult standings situation, definitely does not want to deprive itself of him in January but in the summer it will be very complicated to convince him to stay, especially if a call from a club like Inter arrives. On the tracks of Frendrup there are also some English clubs but at the moment it seems that the player wants to continue his career in Italy.
