Inter and Milan ready to arm wrestle: common goal for defense
Archived the experience at the Club World Cup with the elimination in the round of 16 at the hands of Fluminense, Inter is back to focusing 100 percent on strengthening the squad that Cristian Chivu will have at his disposal in the 2025-2026 season. After the now discounted arrival of Ange-Yoan Bonny, there’s another player who did very well at Parma in the Nerazzurri’s sights: it is defender Giovanni Leoni.
It will not be easy, however, to get to secure the performance of the 2006-born defender: as reported by ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, in fact, Massimiliano Allegri and Igli Tare, Milan’s new coach and new sporting director, respectively, have also expressed interest in Leoni and are ready to ask the club for an extra effort to win the market derby against their “cousins”.
However, for both Inter and AC Milan, the need to satisfy Parma’s demands remains: in fact, Gialloblù CEO Federico Cherubini has not opened up to an imminent transfer, considering Leoni an integral part of the long-term project of the ducali, who want to guarantee the new coach Carlos Cuesta a young squad but already with a fair amount of experience in the top flight.
Born in Rome on Dec. 18, 2006, but raised in the Veneto region, also football-wise, between Vigontina, Cittadella and Padua, Leoni made his professional debut with the biancoscudati in 2023, before playing the second part of 2023-2024 with the Sampdoria jersey. In the season just ended, he collected 17 appearances with Parma (where he met current Inter coach Cristian Chivu), also scoring a goal in A on Feb. 9, 2025 in the 2-1 defeat against Cagliari.
