The inclusion of John Stones in Inter will follow a gradual plan. The English defender arrived on a free transfer after ten years at Manchester City and will have to adapt to a new league, a different country, and the mechanisms of a three-man defensive line.
The club is in no hurry, because the operation stems from a market opportunity rather than an urgent need. President Beppe Marotta and sporting director Piero Ausilio seized the chance to sign a player of this caliber without a transfer fee. For such a profile, Oaktree made an exception to its usual policy, which is generally not in favor of adding out-of-contract players over thirty.
The deal involved a two-year contract worth four million per season and commissions considered sustainable. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Englishman was added to the squad with a precise project, developed together with Christian Chivu, a former Inter defender of similar quality.
Stones was not signed to play fifty matches nor to be squeezed between the league, Champions League, and cups. His management will be planned to raise the team’s level at key moments of the season. His first minutes in the Nerazzurri shirt will come tonight in the friendly against Betis in Bari, the last pre-season match exactly one week before the league debut against Monza at San Siro.
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