MILAN – Outside his offices in the centre of Milan, president Massimo Moratti had this to say to the waiting reporters.
inter.it reports the president's words in full:
We read about your informal chat with some students, words which from a journalist's point view could be rather important."Shame I didn't say them to you."
Andrea Stramaccioni was introduced to the press today, is he simply a stop-gap or is he the future?
"It's obvious that when a young man is talented - and he showed that again today in the introductory press conference - this can start to open new doors. You realise that he has talent, not only in expressing himself, but thus far he's demonstrated it in football too. I must admit that I'm thinking a little about the future, if he does a good job, why not keep him on?"
It must be tempting to appoint a coach in-house, from a financial perspective too.
"Of course. It's the same for players, but this is not all we're looking at. But if they're good enough, then it suits me very nicely."
Today you spoke very highly of Marcelo Bielsa. Is he a dream or a target?
"I've always spoken very highly of Marcelo Bielsa, just as I have about Mourinho or the Barcelona coach. These are top-level coaches, but obviously if we have someone within the club then I'm not going to look elsewhere."
Do feel that some of your young players are already in a position to be in the first-team squad?
"This is the coach's job and he'll know if they can immediately join up with the first team because he's worked with them. I don't think at the moment that they need to make their debuts but they can be part of the squad, and if things go well, then so much the better."
Do you foresee any changes in the non-playing staff?
"Not at the moment. We've already made some changes to the scouts. So we've already done enough. In the future I think if everyone works responsibly as I know they can, then I can think they can all do well."
You've said on more than one occasion that you think Claudio Ranieri is a lovely person. Is it true that he said he'd be willing to stay around to lend a hand?
"I don't know about that. He's of course part of Inter for the moment and so he's always available to help out. He's a lovely person and I think he's a great coach, very professional. Things didn't go well for him, that's it."
Just clear up what's been said about Diego Forlan. What disappointed you the most?
"I've already explained things very clearly. He got injured and so he's played very little. The disappointing thing for the moment is the fact that he's not been able to show what he can do. He's not disappointed me neither as person nor as a player. What is disappointing is that he hasn't been able to show what he can do, perhaps he can now start to do that."
Do you have anything to add on Gian Piero Gasperini? Do you think he was the start of this season's problems?
"We had a bad start and that made things difficult to get things back on track. He's still a good coach, it just didn't work out for him at Inter."
