Internazionale marched to a 3-1 victory over relegation-battling Palermo to establish themselves in fifth position in the Serie A, with summer recruits Ivan Perisic and Geoffrey Kondogbia impressing for Roberto Mancini’s side.
Inter Milan and cross-town rivals AC Milan are no more the dominant forces they once were in the Scudetto race, now lying fifth and sixth in the Serie A table respectively. Inter’s season started out very promisingly, and although they seem to have improved upon recent campaigns, they have recently faded away from the title race.
The Nerazzuri‘s 3-1 victory over 17th-placed Palermo featured goals from Mauro Icardi, Adem Ljajic and Ivan Perisic. Manager Roberto Mancini picked out Ivan Perisic in particular, along with midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia, for praise after the match.
“Ivan Perisic is simply getting to know Italian football, which is very different to the Bundesliga,” said the Italian manager, according to fourfourtwo.com.
“Geoffrey Kondogbia is improving too and both will be the future of Inter.”
Summer of 2015 paying off for Inter
Perisic and Kondogbia were both brought in by manager Roberto Mancini in the 2015 summer transfer window, and have slotted in comfortably into the first team. The French defensive midfielder was the most expensive signing for Inter at 31 million euros, followed by Croatian Perisic at 16 mil euros. Adem Ljajic, who also scored in the game against Palermo, was brought in on loan from AS Roma for 1.75 mil euros.
However, Inter also lost two big names in Croatian holding midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who was sold to Real Madrid for 29 million Euros, and Swiss superstar Xherdan Shaqiri, now playing his trade for Stoke City in the Premier League. Shaqiri had arrived at Inter from Bayern Munich in the January transfer window for 15 million euros, but was sold on in the summer for a 2 million profit.
Mancini oversaw all this chopping and changing, and looked like he was going to deliver at the start of the season. But Inter have fallen by the wayside once again since then, and need to get themselves back into the title picture where a club of their stature belong.
