Paolo Di Canio analyzed Inter‘s transfer market choices during an appearance on Sky Sport, focusing in particular on the profiles of John Stones and Curtis Jones.
The former footballer emphasized how the Nerazzurri management has been working on market opportunities for some time. “For years at Inter they have been working on opportunities, they have been studying for years and they are smart,” said Di Canio, recalling Chivu’s statements after the match against Arsenal: “A different pace, a different league, they put us in the middle.”
Regarding the English defender from Manchester City, Di Canio highlighted the numbers from recent seasons: “So you take Stones, and the people at Inter are not stupid, in the last two years he made 11 appearances first and was not always a starter in the Premier League. Last year only 9. Often injured at those latitudes and out of Guardiola’s real rotation, but he was still a club man and stayed there.”
The pundit explained the logic behind the move: “This doesn’t matter to the Inter directors. He’s a free agent, he comes to Milan, it’s an opportunity, he has physicality and we saw that he scored right away, does he want to play offensively in the opponent’s half? Akanji is that kind of player and Stones is even more so. He becomes the midfielder. Sometimes he falls asleep. But in the idea of a season, with many 95-minute matches, he has the pedigree.” The defender came off the bench against Monza and received a welcome applause from the Nerazzurri fans present at San Siro.
Regarding Jones, Di Canio outlined the midfielder’s characteristics: “He doesn’t play as a 5 or a 9: he always plays as a 6.5. He doesn’t excel at doing what Calhanoglu or Mkhitaryan do but he can do everything at a 6.5 level. He doesn’t have many goals in his pedigree, a bit like Mctominay. He’s not that type. But with Inter creating more, he can score some. Plus, he’s fresh and young and comes to Inter for a project.”
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