Ausilio: "We'll go again even stronger"

MILAN - Nerazzurri Sporting Director PieroAusilio was recently interviewed on “Radio Anch'io Sport” on Rai Radio 1, discussing Inter’s massive victory over Lazio on the final day of the 2017-18 Serie A season: “Qualifying for the Champions League obviously brings with it enthusiasm and economic advantages,” he said. “However, we must give continuity to our project. This year was positive, as was the work of Spalletti and the players. We’ll try to build an even stronger Inter side based on these foundations - with more strength.

He also discussed a number of individuals: “Icardi? Mauro still has three years left on his contract, however, we’ll sit down with him to discuss an upgrade. We want to give our captain what he deserves after what he’s achieved together with his teammates. Cancelo and Rafinha? They gave an important contribution and we’re glad to have brought them here, despite the critics. Few people knew of Cancelo and few believed in Rafinha. We’ll now make financial assessments, without any question of technical ability. The Champions League will obviously give us a helping hand but it doesn’t resolve issues with our finances. Our balance will close on June 30th and we’ll have capital gains. We’ll try to reach our financial objectives, also hoping to keep hold of these guys in the process. It isn’t easy, but we’ll work right until the very end to try and find solutions. Brozovic and Perisic? Our aim is to start again with all the players who’ve demonstrated their importance and strength.

"We’ve caught a glimpse of the quality of our players throughout the season. Our squad is built on a strong core and the players are aware of what it means to wear this shirt. We now want to improve this group further. We’ve already strengthened with three players and, apart from the match against Juventus, which I don’t want to return to, we’ve not lost against any of the top seven in the league. We had difficult moments, but we only lost six matches in total and often the result could’ve been different. This is a key point to consider when we start again, improving our mentality of not dropping points against the smaller clubs.”