Inter Milan will not be involved in the Europa League next season, unless there are some extraordinary circumstances in the summer, that manager Roberto Mancini says that he is pleased with the displays from his team towards the end of the campaign.
The former Manchester City boss was expected to provide a huge lift to the club when he replaced Walter Mazzarri. This left never came and the club finished the campaign in eighth place behind the likes of Genoa and Sampdoria. A thrilling 4-3 win over Empoli on the final day of the season was not enough since Sampdoria finished with a one-point advantage.
Despite the lack of European football next season, Mancini says that he can already look forward to the new season. He has seen several positives including the performances of Mauro Icardi. The striker is seen as one of the hottest in properties in world football and he proved this by scoring a double against Empoli. Mancini reckons that one key reasons behind his happiness is that Inter Milan appear to be playing more as a unit rather than just as a collection of highly talented individuals. The club are once again expected to spend heavily in the summer transfer window, as they hope to reach the heights of 2010.
“It didn’t matter much, but at least we were able to play a game which was entertaining for people.We’re working. The results, unfortunately, were negative but at least the team has become a team. We can definitely work in pre-season and improve a lot. Toni and Icardi have scored the same goals. Luca is 38 but he has the enthusiasm of a kid and you can’t score all those goals without that. Icardi was as good as him,” said Mancini. Icardi finished the campaign with 22 goals.