Staying at the top of the championship and aiming to qualify for the next Champions League as soon as possible, without which the big clubs cannot live. Trying to win the scudetto again, finding the continuity that no one has had in recent years in Serie A. And accelerating on the owned stadium – better if at San Siro — to increase the value of the club. These are Inter’s objectives between the pitch and the office Oaktreeowner of the company for an unpaid debt from Steven Zhang. A situation that the fund did not seek, but found itself in. The horizon is to manage the club for at least three years. A long perspective, for a fund used to lending money and collecting interest.
The focus now is on the championship rather than the Champions League
That the focus, at this stage of the season, is on the championship rather than on the maxi-group of the new Champions League should be confirmed by the choices Inzaghi Sunday in Udine and Tuesday at San Siro with the Red Star. Even without it Stretcherwho will return after the October break, the Pinetina coach tested the very starting players, from Lautaro to Dimarco, from Çalhanoglu to Mkhitaryan. After two draws, as many victories and the defeat in the derby, winning against Friuli is imperative. The slow pace of the lead caravan gives Inter some breathing room, with the competitors all stumbling here and there. But between the 15 points last year and the 8 this year there is an abyss. Marottawho has collected championships in his career, having lost three finals between Juve and Inter, knows well that the Champions League “is beautiful but bastard”, to quote Allegri. It’s okay to try, it’s forbidden to count on it.
Milan, the new stadium next to San Siro. Sala: “Clubs ask for certainties on times, constraints and value”
Objective of balancing the budget in 2025
If the rankings don’t laugh, comfort comes from the accounts. The board of directors closed the budget as of June 30th with a red of 36 million, down compared to 85 million a year ago. A loss made up for by Oaktree, which pumped 44 million into the club in the first quarter of the season. Revenues reached a record 473 million, costs are stable. Objective: to break even on June 30, 2025.
Those who expected the fund to sell off the players were amazed: the protagonists of the second star are all still there. And even those who could say goodbye have had their contracts extended, in order not to lose them for nothing. The last ones were Asllani and Dumfries.
From left Alessandro Antonello, Katherine Ralph, Alejandro Cano and Beppe Marotta
Changes in Inter management
If on the sporting side the ownership interferes little, a physiological change of managers is underway in the corporate part: the first changes concerned the personnel office and the structure that takes care of the stadium. A theme dear to the two Oaktree managers Alejandro Cano — who in New York declared «We know that to compete with the top European clubs an owned stadium is fundamental» — and Catherine Raplhwho spoke in good Italian about San Siro with the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala. The intention is to find a way to build the new facility there, giving a new function to the old Meazza. But the team led by the CEO Antonello also works on alternatives. Starting from Rozzano, where Inter have an option, and San Donato, where the facility should be built in condominium with Milan.
