90min

Simone Inzaghi is the perfect fit for Inter

By Harry Symeou

Simone Inzaghi has opted to join Inter rather than renew his contract at Lazio
Simone Inzaghi has opted to join Inter rather than renew his contract at Lazio / Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images
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After 21 years with Lazio first as a player and then a coach, Simone Inzaghi owed it to himself to take the opportunity to replace Antonio Conte at Inter.

The 45-year-old has long been regarded as one of Italy's brightest coaches, making a success of his time in charge of the Biancocelesti despite having to work with limited resources in comparison to some of the sides around them.

Appointed officially in July 2016, Inzaghi led the club to Coppa Italia glory, two Italian Supercups and Champions League qualification at the end of the 2019/20 season, but after the club delayed contract negotiations with him he was well within his rights to have grown frustrated.

Claudio Lotito
Lazio president Claudio Lotito has expressed his disappointment with Inzaghi's decision to leave / Marco Rosi - SS Lazio/Getty Images

Having verbally agreed to sign a contract extension with Lazio, those who follow the club will be understandably disappointed with his change of heart and surprised by the speed with which his departure unfolded. However, the reality is, he was always going to struggle to compete for the Scudetto with Lazio.

Tactically, Inzaghi feels like the perfect man to take over from Conte given his go-to formation is also the 3-5-2, a system with which Inter have enjoyed great success over the past two seasons - meaning a less painful transitional period.

His previous experience of working under difficult financial conditions will prove invaluable with the Nerazzurri needing to raise funds this summer through player sales too. It's far from the ideal scenario for a manager walking in, sure, but he'll have a much stronger squad at his disposal than he did at Lazio.

Gabriele Oriali, Ionut Radu, Daniele Padelli, Samir Handanovic, Antonio Pintus, Lautaro Martinez, Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Romelu Lukaku, Danilo D'Ambrosio, Roberto Gagliardini, Antonio Conte, Matteo Pincella, Andrea Pinamonti, Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij, Christian Eriksen, Nicolo Barella
Antonio Conte guided Inter to their first Scudetto in over a decade / Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

Inzaghi has also shown he is willing to commit to a project for a number of years and with Inter looking to build on last season's title win as well as make their mark in Europe next season, he will provide the club with the continuity that Antonio Conte, as good as he was, was never going to provide.

While initially, the loss of Conte would have felt like a hammer blow to followers of the Milan-based giants - the fact they've been able to land Inzaghi immediately, you could argue makes the timing of his departure a blessing in disguise.

The former Juventus boss made the breakthrough, ending the Bianconeri's dominance of Italian football and now it seems the Nerazzurri have the perfect man in place to sustain the progress made for seasons to come.

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