Inter Milan executives express full support for Frank De Boer
Frank de Boer was given the full support of Inter Milan executives on Friday, even though the coach has produced only four wins in the club’s opening 10 Serie A matches.
“We’re very satisfied with Frank de Boer,” club CEO Michael Bolingbroke said after an Inter shareholders meeting. “He accepted to come here at the last minute and it’s not an easy situation. We’re 100 percent behind him.”
De Boer was hired less than two weeks before the season began after Roberto Mancini stepped down unexpectedly amid a reported lack of communication with the club’s new owners, the Chinese retail giant Suning.
Inter is in 10th place, 10 points behind Serie A leader Juventus. The team has also lost two of three Europa League games under De Boer.
Inter’s chief sport officer, Piero Ausilio, said no other coaches have been contacted as a possible replacement for De Boer.
“A lot of people are offering themselves but Inter’s bench belongs to Frank de Boer,” Ausilio said. “We support him and we’re convinced that his football project will be a winning one.”
Suning vice president Yang Yang indicated that Erick Thohir, the Indonesian entrepreneur who purchased Inter from the Moratti family three years ago, would remain president.
“We’re very pleased with the current club setup.” Yang said, according to the ANSA news agency. “(Thohir) is also our partner in southeast Asia, where we want to expand. We fully believe in him.”
In June, Suning took control of 70 percent of Inter, with Thohir retaining 30 percent.
Inter says its adjusted deficit for 2015-16 is less than 30 million euros ($33 million), making the club compliant with UEFA’s financial fair play settlement.
Juventus coach: ‘Higuain doesn’t have to score every match’
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri says he isn’t interested in seeing Gonzalo Higuain score every match.
After his Italian-record 90 million euro transfer, Higuain faces former club Napoli on Saturday on a four-match scoring drought.
Allegri says “he’s already scored seven goals and at Juve there are other players who score, too. I’m very pleased with what he’s doing, even without the ball.”
Last season, Higuain scored 36 goals to break a 66-year-old Serie A record.
Allegri says “we’re not interested in seeing Higuain score every Sunday. We’re interested in going all the way in every competition.”
Allegri says Wednesday’s Champions League match against Lyon is more important than the Napoli game since the Bianconeri can advance to the knockout stage.
‘Florenzi can return in three months’
Alessandro Florenzi’s surgeon says “clearance to return to the squad” will probably arrive in around 90 days.
The Roma midfielder ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the Sassuolo game on Wednesday, and underwent surgery today.
“Everything succeeded, I didn’t have any problems, everything is calm,” Piero Paolo Mariani assured reporters after the surgery.
“What else is there to say? There were no surprises, so that’s already a good start and we want to continue in this way.
“My surgical nurses are Lazio fans, they’ve already made an appointment for the derby!
“It’s a good start, the player is pushing and says he wants to return, his first question wasn’t about the surgery, but when he’d be back.
“From a psychological aspect he’s fine, we’d welcome another 100 Florenzis.
“His recovery time? We’ll take it step-by-step, usually it’d take 90 days for clearance to return to squad, then it’s up to the prep team to decide whether to deploy him immediately, and there are football evaluations. Florenzi is an athlete, and he’ll continue to be an athlete.”
The Giallorossi have had bad luck with cruciate ligament injuries in recent years, losing Kevin Strootman and Antonio Rudiger among others, what can be done to prevent these injuries?
“The Pope is in Rome…” Mariani laughed.“ There have been a number of studies, in some years everything is fine and in others there’s a greater incidence of these injuries.
“There are so many variables.”