Inter, De Vrij anxious: Ranocchia warms up for Napoli

Now how does that fast-firing cannonball stop? The cage that Simone Inzaghi had in his head to trap Victor Osimhen could have a different shape than usual: Stefan de Vrij, the compass of the Inter defense and the man who should have hit the Nigerian by hook or by crook, may not be there. Sunday evening. At the end of the match against Montenegro, the Dutchman saw his national team throw themselves away on the road to Qatar, but on the 88th minute he also felt a sharp pain in his right thigh. Both he and both the other parties involved, Inter and the Netherlands, immediately feared the worst: a stretch that could possibly keep him out of the game until almost the end of the year. This is the darkest hypothesis, but it is not yet certain that this is the definitive sentence: all doubts have not yet been resolved, indeed there is a thread of hope to avoid a maxi-stop and to dismiss the trouble to a simpler resentment. The first checks were carried out rather quickly in the Netherlands, where the defender landed from Macedonia only yesterday afternoon. Today, Stefan will return to Italy and, compatibly with the arrival time, will immediately repeat the tests with the Nerazzurri medical staff: an MRI will finally establish the extent of the muscle damage and, therefore, the recovery times. Certainly, if his absence is confirmed in the next few days, the damage for Inzaghi would be significant. Precisely because it would come at a time when Simone needs the full army: after Osimhen, in fact, the many Brazilian elves of De Zerbi arrive at San Siro, obstacles to the Champions League.

The options

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So far, however, it has certainly not been the best year of De Vrij, squeezed like a lemon in both the Nerazzurri and the orange. If that were not enough, two shadows are extending over the Inter future, that of Mino Raiola and Antonio Conte, the agent and the mentor: at the moment there has been no discussion of the extension of the contract, an issue that should be hot given the expiration in 2023 and the arrival of his former coach at Tottenham could leave one imagining a decided ambush on the market. Meanwhile, without Stefan, Inzaghi would only be missing a third of his wall because, luckily, worse troubles were avoided. In fact, there is no apprehension that Alessandro Bastoni will return to his place, shield in hand. After the exacerbation of adductor fatigue he left the national team, but today the left-handed will be at Pinetina to do a personalized job, just like Dzeko. There is time and space to fully recover and try to hinder Osimhen’s (so far disruptive) race. The initial idea is to make him sit on the center-left, as always, but if necessary the blue could also place himself in the middle in the lands of De Vrij, in the classic role of central that marks and sets. In that case, the left-handed defender would go back to being Federico Dimarco, who remained to work hard during the break: the prodigal son who returned to the Nerazzurri this year gave ample guarantees also in this alternative role.

Old captain

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The first option of an Inter without De Vrij remains, however, the old captain: Andrea Ranocchia warms up to still dress like the Dutchman and lead the department from behind, with Skriniar on one side and Bastoni on the other. He, who in the summer was about to leave with the Scudetto on his chest and which he then re-signed in extremis, risks returning to the center in the hottest moment: beating Napoli would mean relaunching and finally approaching the top; repeating himself with Shakhtar would mean mortgaging the last 16 of the Champions League that have been expected for ten years like water in the desert. Ranocchia has already snatched his first appearance of the season in the 2-0 against Udinese, but that appearance was only the result of a reasoned turnover. This opportunity would have a different nature and would come against a team that reminds him so much: on a night several years ago, Napoli trapped him inside an image that he does not deserve. They were the quarterfinals of the 2015 Italian Cup and at 93 ° one of his blunders, never forgiven by the Social Media, opened Higuan’s goal: Campania in the semifinals, the defender on the grid. Since then, he is another Frog, who has become a wise and silent leader from the bench. But, above all, it is a completely different Inter, regardless of De Vrij’s recovery.