Marked for Denys Muntean
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Manuel León has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Inter
Shahriyar Nazarov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match3 Nov 2029
Zira take the points off Inter
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Urban Horvat
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad5 Nov 2029
The award goes to Afran Dadashov, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
5.48 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Inter
Shahriyar Nazarov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Sep 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Shahriyar Mammadov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Inter.
Squad10 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Eddy Mammadov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Nobody could get near Baris Omur
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Ovella Ochieng joins up with his country. Inter lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Agil Nazarov joins up with his country. Inter lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Market10 Sep 2029
Inter have made Sergiy Vakulenko available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Manuel León has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Inter can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market6 Aug 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Urban Horvat in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emin Nadirov and Inter agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The medical room confirms 20 days on the sidelines for Namig Garayev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Muntean, and the manager let it.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Inter pull $24.7K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market6 Aug 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastian Mrowca’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market6 Aug 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inter, another week without a signature from Denys Muntean.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jun 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jun 2029
Inter say no — this time
The offer from AZAL for Gregorio Zangari was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gregorio Zangari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jun 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastian Mrowca’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2029
Tempers go at Inter
Urban Horvat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 May 2029
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market14 May 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastian Mrowca signs something — a contract at Inter or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad14 May 2029
A wage question at Inter
Baris Omur has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Squad14 May 2029
Férney Angulo knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inter, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 May 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Jan 2028
Inter are in real trouble now
Position 9, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad17 Jan 2028
The medical room confirms 86 days on the sidelines for Araz Mammadov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emin Nadirov and Inter agree another 3 years.
Loan watch17 Jan 2028
“I did not go to Gabala to sit and watch. I want to come back to Inter and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Market17 Jan 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.