Roberto Mancini looked back on his most recent spell at the helm of Inter in an interview with Corriere dello Sport: “I don’t have any regrets and I won’t say today I was wrong to accept. It was an important challenge, I’m convinced that I wasn’t wrong to go back to Milan. Unfortunately I didn’t finish the mission, but it remains a positive experience. There were important steps forward, there’s now a basic team there which wasn’t there before. In that respect I regret not finishing the job like last time. My departure? We shook hands like good friends. The relationship is good and I have no reason to hold grudges against the Nerazzurri, just as I don’t think they hold them toward me. The resolution was consensual, we were unable to take the same path to achieving the goals Inter must always have in front of them: the Scudetto and the Champions League. I’ll remain an Inter fan, of course. What would I change? Maybe January, where Inter had a total blackout. Unfortunately that can happen when you’re re-opening a cycle. If a few defeats had been turned into draws, we’d probably have gone on to make the Champions League preliminary rather than Roma. Even in 2004 we started with small steps but we eventually reached the summit.”
The former coach then spoke on Yaya Toure, a player continually linked to the club over the past year or so: “Yaya was always one of my goals. We had almost sealed his purchase with President Erick Thohir a year ago, then he preferred not to betray Manchester City, where I took him. Toure, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of those players who can make the difference, who can change the outcome of a season by themselves like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Paulo Dybala? I tried to take him from Palermo to Inter, but he chose Juve. He’s a champion, one who can approach Messi.”
He concluded the interview sharing his predictions for the season: “Today, Juventus are on another planet from every point of view. But if a club had taken Ibra or Yaya, they’ve have fought with the Bianconeri for the title. I’m sure of it. I’m not just talking about Inter, I mean Milan, Napoli, Roma, Fiorentina…the big clubs, in short. Who can challenge Juve? Napoli, Roma, Inter, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio can all cause problems in a one-off game. They have very interesting young talents. De Laurentiis has invested the €90m from Juventus for Gonzalo Higuain in major talents, those investments will bear fruit in time.”
Source: Corriere dello Sport
