Inter Transfer Market: Ausilio’s Regret: “I Slept Through It”

Inter’s sporting director, Piero Ausilio, spoke about his career on the sidelines of the opening night of the summer transfer window: “My mentor? Pierluigi Casiraghi, who worked at Pro Sesto and was an example to everyone. He had a very unique way of looking at soccer; he relied on his intuition: it was impossible to learn everything from him, but I managed to take something with me,” according to calciomercato.com.

“The most important signing of my career? Recent history points to Lautaro Martinez. Any regrets? Probably Tonali when he was at Brescia—I kind of missed the boat on that one. An underrated player? Tonali, again. We could have done more; with a little effort, we could have made it happen…”.

Ausilio also mentioned Lautaro in connection with the most difficult deal: “I spent three days in Buenos Aires without sleeping. If a sporting director flies out and doesn’t sign the player, it looks bad. He had an agreement with another club, so it wasn’t easy for us.”

The Nerazzurri sporting director is also proud of the Bisseck signing: “The reports weren’t all in agreement. What made the difference was getting to know the young man—he’s very intelligent, speaks several languages, and would have become a doctor if he hadn’t become a player. He’s had various experiences; we found him in Denmark. I signed him for his intelligence and physicality, despite some reports that might not have been consistent.”

Returning to the present, Ausilio described Palestra’s transfer to Chelsea as “a rejection worse than anything you’d get in high school…but our offer to the player was less than half of what Chelsea proposed,” according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.