How Inter Milan Became the Best Team in Italy
Five years ago, the thought of a team not named Juventus winning Serie A seemed laughable. From 2011 to 2020, the Old Lady rattled off nine consecutive Italian League Titles. Their methods were unorthodox, but have been repurposed by the new champions, Inter Milan. In their dominant 2010s run, Juventus famously took aging players no longer desired by Europe’s elite clubs and revitalized their careers in Turin. Some of the notable players include Cristiano Ronaldo, Andrea Pirlo, Juan Cuadrado, Miralem Pjanic, Gonzalo Higuain, Fernando Llorente, and so many more. This list does not even include the players they grew from a young age who were able to play into their late thirties like Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini.
While clubs like AC Milan, Napoli, Roma, and Inter themselves struggled to develop young talent to build a team the traditional way, Juventus terrorized all who thought to oppose them for a decade. In 2021, Inter broke that streak by employing Juventus’ methods and struck gold again in 2024. Here are some of the notable players whose careers have been revived on the blue side of Milan.
Alexis Sanchez was part of one of the craziest and most disastrous transfer sagas of all time, as Manchester United swooped in front of Manchester City to pry the Chilean away from Arsenal in 2018. Sanchez was a favorite in North London before the move, affirming himself as one of the best players in the Premier League in the 2010s, but, after a wildly disappointing 18 months at Manchester United, Sanchez went to Inter completely devoid of confidence. Since then, despite never winning a Premier League, Sanchez has now won the Scudetto twice as an important role player for Inter. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the man swapped by Manchester United for Alexis Sanchez. While his side of the deal went over a little better, the Armenian still left the Premier League in a disappointing fashion. After three years of reestablishing himself at Roma, Mkhitaryan has continued his post-England revitalization at Inter, becoming an engine in their midfield.
Hakan Calhanoglu was famous for free kicks and little else at Bayer Leverkusen. He found success at AC Milan for four years before Inter poached him off of their rivals and has found the best soccer of his career as a result. The Turk put up 13 goals and nine assists in the league this season. Francesco Acerbi is quite possibly the heartbeat of this Inter team that has been so good in the past two seasons, playing in the center of defense. After playing for five different Italian clubs in his career, Acerbi found his way to Inter in 2022 and has had a late-career renaissance in Milan as a result.
While not part of this year’s title run, Edin Dzeko was one of the most important players in Inter’s march to the Champions League Final a year ago. A man who has seen most of his career success come after turning 30, Dzeko replaced Romelu Lukaku after he left for Chelsea, and then remarkably held on to his spot when Lukaku returned to Milan. Also not part of this year’s run is Romelu Lukaku, who has left a path of destruction everywhere he has gone, except for Inter Milan. After a disastrous return year at Chelsea in 2021-22, Lukaku returned to the place where he has played the best in his career in Inter. Lukaku’s ability to surge in form the second he sets foot in Milan shows the clear effect that the club has on aging and seemingly lost players.
While these players are not the stars of the team like Lautaro Martinez and Nicolo Barella, Inter simply would not have seen the success they have had in the past four years without these men. We know the importance of star power on winning teams, but all of the players listed were stars at one point who sacrificed their egos to extend their careers and achieve success in their careers. It is an admirable way to build a team that is difficult to replicate but clearly is preached like gospel in Italy.
