CONTINUE READING FOR FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATION FOR FABRIZIO’S INTERVIEW
In this edition of the IWW podcast Alessandro & Anthony digest the positive results against Atalanta & Frosinone which have given us ‘match point’ against Roma.
Also the boys are joined by a special guest in Italian journalist and tv personality Fabrizio Biasin who is here to answer all your questions and talk about Inter’s prospects heading into the next campaign.
A: Ok, then, thank you very much. Again, thank you so much for accepting our invitation Fabrizio. For those few who don’t know you, if you want to introduce yourself in two seconds
F: So I’m a journalist, I live in Milan and work for an Italian newspaper called Libero, but my football passion is Inter and let’s say I married the two so I’m a sport journalist, openly supporting Inter. I always try to be as objective as possible. Sometimes I can, sometimes not. At the same time I support the team also in many televisions show here in Italy and try to do the good of Inter without being excessively bias however the most possibly realist, always.
A: I also know that you wrote a book about the history of the Milan Derby, right?
F: yes with one of my Milanese colleague Francesco Perugini, we wrote this very heavy tome on the history of the derby, from its origins to the present day, it is useful when the sessions in the bathroom are quite long and you want to read a little about the history of the Derby. But the derby is nice not to read it but to come and see it at San Siro. You are far away but if it happens you should come because it is always a show.
A: I can also add another part of the equation which, in my opinion, especially in Italy, has a big repercussion and is the Media industry and your journalist colleagues. The question is, why do you think that, since I remember at least, Inter has this relationship with the media and if we compare other great teams it is completely different, because if we look for example at Juve or Milan, the Media treat less loudly their cases …
F: In my opinion there is a little bit of ingenuity, too much availability sometimes leading to those who do my job to take advantage of it. Inter is always a little not cover from the point of view of communication because for its nature is generous but generosity too many times then mixes with naivety and therefore always ends up being exposed from the media point of view. This is what dear old Jose ‘Mourinho has taught us very well, perhaps sometimes it is better to be a little bit more bad and even aggressive to defend his own little court. I believe that with the arrival of Marotta we will try to do this again starting next year, we’ll try to be less exposed, a little more protected. Because all the teams have problems, but it seems that we are the only one to have them.
A: We, in the editorial office, the other day we were comparing some American sports with the Italian ones and the fact that the teams do not allow players to have all this media exposure, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook profiles. In the United States even the cheerleaders cannot have Twitter profiles, just to avoid any scandal or problem. Do you think we should also adopt a similar thing in Italy and especially at Inter?
F: I would like very much! Look, Gattuso talked about it just two days ago, Milan’s coach, our cousins. Coach that I respect a lot because in my opinion at the level of communication is a person really very well made and has clarified that unfortunately nowadays the players, especially those of football, in Italy, expose themselves too much. And create a problem, a problem to themselves and consequently also to the team and this thing in a sport, in a discipline with millions and millions at stake cannot be accepted, it must be regulated, at least controlled. Then of course there are the thousand legal problems that are always on the agenda in Italy, so there is the right to privacy, the right to communicate right here and there and therefore it is always hard to control. However, I repeat, it can be done because some team do it already and in fact there are teams in which these things do not happen. In my opinion we should regulate this thing since they are getting out of hand, becoming really annoying and heavy to deal with every day. Situations that have nothing to do with the game. Since there are already so many problems in the field, let’s get rid of those out of the field.
A: Exactly, I fully agree. So, since I don’t know how much time you have, I’ll go ahead with a couple of questions. Sam from Malta, and this question is perfect for you since I know you don’t like to talk about the transfer market and the Icardi situation, so the question is: will Icardi be sold at the end of the season and who is in pole position to replace him?
F: unfortunately, I do not have an answer right now, in the sense that even Icardi himself doesn’t know what will happen next year, at this moment he doesn’t know it. Given the situation, It is possible that the team will listen to any offers from abroad rather than from other teams, but at this moment we are in a completely stalled phase.
At the same time, we must not forget that Icardi still has a two-year contract and he would like to remain in Milan. But I repeat for how things went this year we need to understand so many things for example if next year’s coach will still be Spalletti rather than Conte or someone else and then we wait and see. There is no answer to this question.
A: Still Sam asks: what are the goals of Ausilio and how is the relationship with Marotta managing the transfer market? In the sense, who will have the last word for purchases?
F: Well, the last word is from Marotta as the managing director of the sporting part, but if someone is questioning the relationship between the managing director and the sporting director in reality they are already working together. Ausilio will remain also the year next in office as sports director and already working on the construction of the next team. I would avoid making too many names but I can tell you what they want to do, because I talked about this directly with them.
Their intention is to build a solid locker room from a mental point of view and therefore built above all with men even before with footballers, especially with players who have already won something, so it is necessary to bring some experience in a dressing room that has shown to have difficulty when the tension rises. I am thinking of the Inter-PSV game. Inter equalized with PSV and instead of trying to win the game, they started making “melina” (Tiki-Taka) in midfield and awaiting the result of Barcelona. This cannot happen in a team, in a locker room that has certain ambitions.
And then players like Godin will arrive, surely, players who have that kind of experience and therefore players who can raise the character level.
Along with these, so surely one is Godin, the others I don’t know. I can tell you that they surely like Herrera from Porto but I don’t know if they manage to take it, even if he is a free transfer he’s very much in demand. Together with these, some young people will arrive and Barella from Cagliari likes a lot and I believe that there is already more than a hand-shake.
We will also look for a winger, because is more than possible that Perisic will leave, and Chiesa is the dream of everyone but the prices are exaggerated so I take a step backwards on this and I don’t know where they are sincerely.
A: The “Bomba di Mosca” (incredible scoop), an amazing name that you can gives us in exclusive?
F: I don’t do any kind of name, no type of scoop because I hate those bullshit about transfer market and I don’t feed them. If I knew it I would have already written about it but I don’t have anything, there is nobody at this moment. I believe they are actually working on some important names. I mean, the fact that Marotta tries to bring Dybala to Inter, it is fairly well known, but if I say “Dybala comes to Inter”….. So the possibilities are not many, because Juventus is a smart club and would like a lot of money, everything would be more complicated. But the fact that Marotta and Dybala have an excellent relationship is indisputable.
A: ok, so we will title the Podcast “Biasin declares Dybala at Inter”!
F: “Biasin’s transfer cracks”!
A: ok then, let’s stay in the same subject. Lorenzo from Oslo asks: percentage that Spalletti will remain next year and who could replace him instead?
F: So, the possibilities are there, but they are not there because there is the real will to go on together. I have to explain myself better since this is complicated. Marotta arrived mid-season and it is probable, possible, that he wants to build his team. He couldn’t do it already in the season so he will start from June most likely. His team is a team with ideally Conte on the bench. So he is already working to try to bring this coach. They have already met at least a couple of times and in theory they have already reached a sort of agreement on the word that counts for nothing but is better than nothing. But this does not mean that you will certainly come to this coach, why? Because on the other side Spalletti is doing his job anyway. Because Spalletti still has a two-year contract, because to get to Conte you have to be able to convince the property to make this type of choice and it’s a very expensive choice, because you have to pay Conte and you should liquidate Spalletti in that case. So the situation is very complicated but not so complicated. You simply have to wait. It is not a reasoning to do now because Inter is not yet mathematically in the Champions League and you have to wait for it to reach its goal. Then I believe that news will come.
A: how do you see Mourinho in this context? Is he still a pretender or is he too far behind now?
F: I am, with many others, a very big Mourinho fan and I also believe that a part of the company, I think of Zanetti, has also tried to do this kind of reasoning: “Mourinho next Inter coach”. I believe, however, that the decision at this time is from Marotta otherwise he would not have being hired as new CEO and that Marotta is thinking to a different profile. After that, I repeat, I am a huge fan of Mourinho, I think it’s a bit dangerous to go and dirty the image of a coach who did so well in 2010. Oh well, if Mourinho finally arrives, I’m very happy. But I think it’s very difficult.
A: Another question, about the company. Matteo from Venice asks: Is Suning a serious property or “the usual Chinese property”? I mean, let’s look at the cousins’ side here…
F: ok, for what I understand, for what they made us understand, for how they set their job, they are not serious, they are very serious. Too serious, they are so serious about wanting to comply with any kind of regulation. From wanting to get out of the Financial Fair Play with our own strength, from wanting to take all the necessary steps to make Inter a solid company, because unfortunately in past years Inter lost this solidity, No? It has come to have a very very big debt, has risked a lot of money and therefore Suning, before carrying out some kind of ambitious work, wants to lay a solid foundation. This obviously annoys the fans. There is a part of the fans who would like heavy investments right away, but that would really be too risky.
I believe that starting from the next season, leaving the settlement agreement will make it easier for Inter to operate on the transfer market. But how? With Suning giving us 300 million and tells us Have fun on the market? No, nobody can do this thing any more, just sheiks, but that’s a separate matter. You have to do it with your own strength, so what does Suning do? It gives more strength to the company, increases the revenues, brings new sponsors. But then it is Inter who must be able to do what it wants. It doesn’t have to be Suning to bring capital. This thing unfortunately does not exist anymore.
A: I understand. Slightly tied up, we have Enes from Austria who says: why is Milan not respecting Finalcial Fair Play?
F: Eh! So, rightly the Inter fans say “why did I spend 4 years in hell and on the other side they do what they want?” At the moment there is a resounding confrontation between UEFA and Milan, which at some point will see a winner and a loser. If UEFA lets Milan do, the financial fair play is over, because at that point it means that everyone can do what they want. If UEFA instead imposes sanctions against Milan, Milan risks being excluded from the Champions League, even if they qualify and so this is a battle in progress.
The feeling is that Milan wants to go all the way, that it wants to do the battle at Financial Fair Play and it’s also looking for support from other clubs because Elliott’s assumption is: I entered football to look for to improve my club, to make it more palatable in the eyes of the World and so you can’t prevent me from investing. It is an argument that also makes sense from the point of view of a new property, which says “I arrived, I helped out the old property and now I want to invest”. But it is also true that this thing would create an annoying precedent for those who in recent years have made the whole journey, so I believe that from now to the next two months we will see some good ones, and by that I mean a real legal battle.
A: Ok, still Enes from Austria (premise, we’re recording before the Juve match) asks: Do you think Juve will win the Champions League?
F: So here I risk making a fool of myself! So, I believe that tonight’s game is not a game so obvious since we saw Ajax in the first leg match, it’s a team that knows how to play football, it’s a team that plays at home or away in the same way, it’s a solid team from the mental point of view, so this is already a complicated obstacle for Juve. I believe that in the end Juve will pass this turn and I believe that it will also arrive at the final. Then I see a classic final, I don’t want to work too much fantasy so I imagine a Messi Vs. Ronaldo and at that point anything can really happen. But Juventus, it must be said, must be acknowledged that it did everything they had to do to aspire to victory. So I can’t tell if they will win or not, but the company has worked very well and this is indisputable
A: ok, here I have the last question from, I hope to pronounce it correctly, from Putush from India. Wait because this is a very complicated question.
With the rise in 433 uber pressing system that many teams are adopting and with the interchangeability preached among midfielders, does he see the eventual fading of pure defensive midfielder as the likes of Kante and Casemiro for 3 back to back midfielder each contributing to the defensive load?
F: Well, the all-round midfielders are very precious and very expensive, first of all. So this is the ambition of so many teams that only a few teams can afford it. In my opinion, at least in the near future, we will still see some fairly classic midfielders, let’s say so. Our problem is – we have something here, which is beautiful but we are really a step back in midfield. We had our limit this year in midfield. We have to thank Brozovic for having managed to keep the midfield going throughout the season, despite his character limitations. But a mistake was made last summer, that is when you can choose between an extra midfielder maybe with good feet and a winger, you have to go to the midfielder, because unfortunately we have very few ideas right now in the middle of the field. That is why I think next summer will have to be the summer of the midfielders. Inter needs at least a couple of quality midfielders.
A: Ok, this is a question from myself. Not knowing who will be the coach and consequently which module we will have, how do you build a team? For example going to buy new full backs but if in the end you go to play with a three-man defense, then you don’t need fullbacks, rather than taking wings that go back and forth instead of focusing on the attack …
F: There is an answer, I mean I don’t know “who will be the coach of next year” but Marotta knows it and I believe that every type of transfer is already, points already, to what will be the next technical guide. At this moment we certainly know that Godin will arrive, which is a central that goes well for all seasons. Whether you play 3 or 4, Godin is a defender to be taken especially on a free transfer. The same is true for Barella, if you take a player like Barella, Barella is good for Conte, Spalletti and even my aunt, everyone like Barella. And then I repeat, in my opinion they already know who they are going for the bench and therefore the market is already planned for the new or the current coach, let’s see.
A: ok, very last question for me. The San Siro situation, do you think it will be resolved by the end of the season or is it something that will go on and on?
F: You are very lucky because you are far away and therefore you don’t have to deal with our damn bureaucracy and with the chatter / lies that are given to us every day. So now we talk a lot about the stadium, we talked in particular during the last international break because obviously there was a lack of material to fill the newspapers with and so we talked a lot about that. But unfortunately I fear that it is still a long story. Because Milan, whoever have been here, has seen that it is a city that is developing so much, it is a very modern city, it is a very beautiful city but from this point of view, from the point of view of the stadium , there are still so many limits because the Municipality does not want to give up the bone. For the municipality the stadium is a significant source of revenue and therefore they will have to find an agreement of some kind, I believe it will still take a long time.
A: But it should not be one of the priorities, if not the number one priority, if you want to rebuild? Because here I see an example, here where I live, the Warriors, the basketball team, built the new stadium and not being able to build it in Oakland for reasons more related to the brand they moved to the other side of the bridge, they are here in San Francisco, they have the new stadium and therefore, everyone is happy. Something like that, I realized that the City of Milan does not want to give up the stadium but having to do our own good too, trying to build it slightly outside Milan or elsewhere is crazy? What do you think about it?
F: I believe that there is a strong desire from the part of Suning to arrive at the stadium owned. Perhaps a little less from the AC Milan property because Elliott, is not a mystery, he does not want to remain the owner of Milan for the next 50 years. He intends to restore the accounts balance and then possibly transfer Milan to the highest bidder. So this is also a problem. They are thinking about a common stadium, which I think is an anachronistic thing.
I mean, the moment you leave San Siro, Milan must have their own stadium, Inter must have their own stadium, that’s the problem too. So I believe that right now they are thinking about what to do. As you said, however, this is a priority because in this way they gave 10 years of advantage to Juventus and Juventus took advantage of those 10 years very well. And until we have our stadium the problem will remain.
A: Anthony, do you have any question?
Anthony: Thank you so much for coming on Fabrizio, it was a privilege and we hope to have you back!
F: Thank you very much, thank you for listening to me because I’m boring and pedantic.
A: No, absolutely not! If you want to do us the honor of returning as a guest soon …
F: now I have Skype on the phone too, so gladly, it was easy.
A: There you go! I let you go, I know that you are busy today, thanks again for the contribution and for the chat
F: thanks to you, if I can escape from Milan I come to visit you, it would be a pleasure, I would like it very much!
A: Gladly, you will have a place here in San Francisco and one in Sydney for sure, I think that having listeners all over the world, you could even travel for free!
F: Don’t say it twice or I’ll really do it! Thank you very much, Good evening or day depending on where you are! Ciao!
