A meeting put in place to lay all the cards out onto the table. Finally, Mancini got what he wanted, a chance to have his say on the future of Inter. After the formation of the new owners, the 52-year-old has been isolated, unable to get his points across.
 

Mancini has never been a coach that will just accept decisions made by the hierarchy at a club. He’s known that since Thohir took over the reins from Morratti he’s wanted Inter to return to the Champions League. He’s missed out twice now but the fans have never blamed the former Sampdoria legend.  Having recently stated that “Napoli, Juve and Roma are all stronger and we will be behind them again next season” was a slap in the face for the people at the club who promise more than they can actually deliver. The truth however, is that there are very few champion players on show in the nerazzurri shirt.  

The comments by Mancini have opened up old wounds that seem impossible to heal. The conflict between Mancini and Thohir continues and the Indonesian businessman has not delivered a glowing report to the new owners at Suning. Now the coach is in a precarious position, unable to influence transfers and unable to voice his opinion through President Thohir; an impossible situation.
 

Mancini’s comments have now come to the attention of the new owners and a door has finally been opened to clarify matters. Steven Zhang has found the waters anything but calm and has decided to act personally. Since yesterday he has been working to try to resolve the situation in one way or another and although the dialogue yesterday is thought to have reassured Mancini, it’s still unclear what the future holds and other meetings will be required. It seems Suning may be open to a renewal of a further 12 months but Mancini’s main problem has never been this; Zhang needs to be aware of this if there is to be a satisfactory conclusion.

Original article by Pasquale Guarro. Adapted and translated by Steve Mitchell