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EXCLUSIVE Romano: Pirlo move to Inter unlikely
Will he heed Azzurri boss Antonio Conte’s message, and pick a Serie A team in order to make the plane to France 2016?
Inter fans certainly hope so, their club giving one of Italy’s greatest ever playmakers away to arch-rivals Milan early on in his career, only to see him win two Champions league titles, reach two more finals and win the Serie A on six occasions… as well as the World Cup with Italy. Ouch!
The Nerazzurri have, however, always denied that they’re after the Brescian midfielder. Piero Ausilio certainly has other priorities, as he’s still after promising Red Star youth Marko Grujic. The Inter Sporting Director is after more attacking options than midfielders.
Coach Roberto Mancini himself believes he’s fully stacked at the position, with Greoffrey Kondogbia showing some signs of improvement, even scoring the winner against Torino at the weekend.
What do they say in Turin? Giuseppe Marotta has no doubts: “Knowing Pirlo, I don’t think he’ll go to Inter”, an opinion defensive stalwart Giorgio Chiellini shares.
To sum up, everyone who has managed him or played with him doesn’t seem to lend much credit to the option that he’ll go to Inter.
When he left Juventus, Pirlo confessed that his was a lifestyle choice more than a search for the best opportunity the market had to offer, as we saw when he turned down the chance to move to the London (Spurs) or Dubai. Why then move back to Inter after moving to the other side of the planet?
Every Pirlo decision seems to be dictated by common sense, by considerations that are a tad more holistic than we’d think. This one doesn’t seem to be any different.
Though the transfer market’s whims have always taught us to never say never, this may be the year where we finally say goodbye to the notion of a Pirlo return to Italy. At least for the moment, anyway.