Inter Milan owner’s project still lacking definition

Scant details have emerged since Erick Thohir's arrival

Erick Thohir, the new president of Inter Milan, has yet to expound on his long-term plans for the club. Pier Marco Tacca / Getty Images

Inter Milan’s new president Erick Thohir said after Monday’s loss to Lazio that the result would not alter his belief in the project for the club. His comments left many Inter fans asking the same question: what project?

The Indonesian business tycoon was appointed chairman of Inter in November, after his International Sports Capital bought a 70 per cent stake in the club, ending Massimo Moratti’s 18-year reign at the helm.

The purchase raised hopes of a new dawn for the team, which has fallen on hard times following the heights of 2010 when they won a Serie A, Coppa Italia and Uefa Champions League treble under Jose Mourinho.

But since his takeover, little has been heard about Thohir’s plans, except that he will spurn the big-spending approach of Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

“We will buy players, but we’re going to be careful with our spending,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport shortly after taking charge.

“Our objective is financial restructuring, creating a club which is in sound financial health, as agreed with Moratti.”

There was also a brief mention of a new stadium, which would be a huge improvement on sharing the increasingly run-down San Siro with AC Milan, but nothing concrete has transpired.

Thohir, who is part owner of the Major League Soccer club DC United and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, flies to Milan from Indonesia for big games and usually limits his comments to platitudes about how he is looking forward to the match.

This has frustrated the local media, used to the old-fashioned method of door-stepping by Moratti, who would feed them almost daily quotes from the street in front of his office or out his car window.

Supporters hope the January transfer window provides more clues, and that the new owners will take an Arsenal-style approach based on spotting and developing exciting young talent.

That would be a far cry from the present side, where ageing Argentina pair Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso still feature regularly and Rodrigo Palacio is often a lonely figure in attack.

Coach Walter Mazzarri hinted that Inter’s priority would be to reduce the squad, rather than look for new players.

“We’re a work in progress here because we have players who aren’t featuring much and deserve to be playing more elsewhere,” he said.

“We should aim first of all to use this transfer window to adjust the number of players we have in this squad so that we can train well, with others going out to get some experience under their belts or so that their value can increase.

“That’s the sort of choice we need to make. People need to know what’s going on.”

Inter’s 1-0 loss at Lazio left them a modest sixth in the table, below promoted Verona and eight points behind third-place Napoli in the coveted Champions League play-off spot.

Their next Serie A match is at home to Chievo on Monday, giving them a chance to make up some ground on Napoli, who have a much-tougher fixture at Verona on Sunday.