da apostaganha： The fear was that the Nerazzurri would seriously miss the Cameroonian goalkeeper, but the Swiss has proven a massive upgrade
da fezbet： In May of last year, Inter had little intention of selling Andre Onana. The Cameroonian goalkeeper had only arrived at San Siro the previous summer and was enjoying a stellar debut season in Serie A.
"It is difficult to predict the future," Inter CEO Beppe Marotta told reporters at the time, "but we have not received any offers and he wants to stay, so we do not intend to put him on the market." However, while Marotta is no Nostradamus, he is a master of the transfer market, capable of spotting a bargain a mile away.
So, when Manchester United offered £47 million ($57m) for a player that had joined Inter on a free transfer, Marotta knew it was an offer too good to turn down, particularly as Inter's constant cash-flow problems nearly always necessitate the sale of at least one high-profile player every year.
Getty ImagesOne of the greatest tricks Marotta has ever pulled
The problem, of course, was how to replace a goalkeeper that had wowed the watching world with his daring distribution of the ball during Inter's unfortunate Champions League final loss to Manchester City last June.
With former No.1 Samir Handanovic having retired at the end of the of 2022-23 campaign, coach Simone Inzaghi was understandably getting a little antsy as the start of a new season approached with his employers still searching for an Onana successor.
However, on August 7, after protracted negotiations, Marotta and his colleagues agreed a €6m (£5.1m/$6.5m) fee with Bayern Munich for Yann Sommer, which, combined with the Onana sale, is already looking like one of the greatest tricks Marotta has ever pulled.
AdvertisementGetty History of incredible deals
He has plenty of previous, of course. At Juventus, Marotta completed the construction of the 'BBC' backline – one of the finest in football history – with the acquisition of Andrea Barzagli for just €300,000 and completely altered the course of Italian football by taking Andrea Pirlo to Turin on a free transfer. Marotta also convinced Paul Pogba to leave Manchester United when his contract expired in the summer of 2012, before then sending him back to Old Trafford in 2016 for a world-record fee.
He's continued to work wonders since joining Inter. For example, selling Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea for £97.5m only to then take him back on loan a year later for just €8m really was quite the manoeuvre. And even when the Belgian betrayed Inter by reneging on an agreement to make his loan stay at San Siro permanent, Marotta went out and picked up Marcus Thuram, a free agent that has incredibly proven an even better foil for star striker Lautaro Martinez than Lukaku.
Getty ImagesInitial scepticism
The stunningly successful Onana-Sommer swap is arguably even more impressive, though. With his fantastic range of passing, Onana had quickly become integral to the way in which Inzaghi wanted his side to build from the back. The fear was that he would be sorely missed and Sommer appeared not only an underwhelming replacement, but also little more than a short-term solution.
The Swiss may have been a painfully familiar face to Italian football fans, given Jorginho failed to convert two penalties against Sommer during the Azzurri's unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, but he was 34 at the time of his arrival and Bayern's willingness to let him leave was not viewed as a positive sign.
Getty ImagesPutting Onana to shame
Sommer, though, has been sensational right from the start of the season, slotting seamlessly into Inzaghi's starting line-up and proving an integral member of the best defence in Europe right now. Only last week, he saved a late penalty against Fiorentina to secure a 1-0 win that put Inter back on top of Serie A, a point clear of Juventus having played one game fewer than the Bianconeri, whom they host on Sunday.
The clean sheet at the Artemio Franchi was, quite incredibly, Sommer's 18th in all competitions this season, which is four more than any other goalkeeper across Europe's 'Big Five' leagues – and twice as many as Onana.
Of course, he's lucky to have the likes of Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni playing in front of him, but Sommer is always there when called upon, with the 35-year-old boasting the best save percentage (a staggering 85.19) of any goalkeeper to have played at least 10 games this season. By way of comparison, Onana's is a desperately poor 67.59 percent.
Perhaps even more impressively, though, Sommer has proven himself just as proficient in possession as his Inter predecessor. In fact, he has actually completed more passes this season (773) than Onana (759) – and just six fewer than arguably the ultimate sweeper-keeper, Ederson.