Inter Milan s lineup is still aging and retains many veterans, the most preferred item under the comprehensive economic and competitive athletics!

The aging of Inter Milan's lineup has always been one of the important factors that affect the team's competitive strength in recent seasons. The average age of the lineup has been "turned" to the top of Serie A and even the top five leagues in the top spot. In 2010, Inter Milan won the Champions League trophy for the first time in history, and it was also the last time that a Serie A team won the Champions League trophy, creating a peak record that is difficult to replicate.

However, when the lineup was seriously aging, the team did not choose to promote the lineup to be younger, but instead continued to renew the contract with veterans with high salaries, resulting in concentrated outbreaks of problems such as decline in strength, decline in record performance, and explosive salary. It missed a good opportunity for lineup reconstruction and also led to the decline for many years later.

In the past three years, Inter Milan has reached the Champions League final twice in a row. Although it has failed to replicate the 2010 championship plot, it has all faced the same problem as before. However, this time the team still did not make drastic changes in lineups, but chose to retain many veterans, including 37-year-old Archerby, 36-year-old Sommer, 36-year-old Mkhitaryan, 35-year-old Damian and 33-year-old Deverry. Is this choice of Inter Milan reasonable? Let’s analyze it from the perspectives of competition and economy.

First of all, it is the competitive angle. The increase in players' age will lead to an inevitable decline in physical functions, and the decline in physical fitness and the increase in injuries are the most direct manifestations. Archerby took advantage of the summer window opportunity to perform sports hernia surgery last year and provided fundamental treatment for minor problems that had accumulated in the body. However, he was still injured three times in the new season due to muscle problems, and was absent for 73 days. Among them, the end of November to mid-January was the most intensive period of the team's multi-line events. Fortunately, Devrey performed his courage to protect the situation.

Devry had few injuries last season, and he performed stably during Archerby's injury and played the style that the former Serie A best central defender should have. However, Inzaghi Jr. did not trust him enough, so he became a bench player after Archerby's comeback. If Ziwo can rotate the lineup well in the new season and let the two old central defenders share their playing time, they should be able to control their physical fitness and injury problems well, and ensure the stability of the central defender's position behind them.

36-year-old Mkhitaryan has no longer had his offensive creativity than before, but his physical condition has been very good. He only took two weeks off last season due to two muscle problems. Moreover, even though his offensive ability has declined a lot, his ability to quickly carry the ball and run from the backcourt to the frontcourt is still scarce in the team. This is probably why the team is willing to continue to retain him for a season. Due to the special goalkeeper position, Sommer has maintained a high-level and stable performance for two consecutive seasons, and the team is not ready to let Martinez take over, and may even buy a new first goalkeeper, so it is understandable to continue to retain it.

But the 35-year-old Damian stayed a little unexpected. Although he worked hard and made a lot of contributions during his five years at Inter Milan, last season it was obvious that he was unable to do anything in the wingback position, and his speed, physical fitness and impact strength could no longer meet the needs of this position. If you look closely at the five positions of the defender and wingback, Inter Milan has already matched the main players + 10 substitutes, and Damian seems to have become the extra person. In my opinion, the biggest reason why Inter Milan retains him is to make a backup of a universal patch. Because of the multi-position attribute, he can play four positions: left and right central defenders and left and right wing guards, and can deal with the situation of tight manpower caused by injury in these positions.

In terms of strength, Sommer, Archerby and Devry can still play the main players, and Mkhitaryan and Damian can also provide the team with technical and human resources elements in a timely manner, becoming a powerful supplement to the lineup. As I said above, as long as you can balance the playing time of Archerby and Devrey and ensure the physical fitness and attendance rate of the two, these veterans will not become a problem factor affecting the strength of the lineup.

In terms of economic factors, Archerby, Mkhitaryan and Damian have a termination fee of 500,000 euros in the contract, but Inter Milan did not choose to activate it. The last year of Devry's contract is the team's option, and Inter Milan also chose to execute it. With Sommer, the big reason Inter Milan chose to continue to retain these 5 veterans is that the cost is low! Among the 5 people, Devri and Mkhitaryan have the highest annual salary of 3.8 million euros, and Devri's salary cost is 7.03 million euros. Mkhitaryan complies with the tax preferential policy, and the cost is only 4.98 million euros. Sommer and Damian both have annual salary of 2.5 million euros, and the salary cost is 3.28 million euros. The annual salary of Big Donkey Archer is as low as 1.5 million euros, the salary cost is only 2.78 million euros, and the total salary cost of 5 people is only 21.35 million euros! But in today's transfer market, it is not easy to find a player whose abilities and roles match the above veterans. Even if you find it, it will never be solved by 20 million euros. So, after weighing the trade-offs, the team chose the lower-cost option.

Finally, let’s talk about one thing that is related to both competitive and economic factors, that is, team building!

Although retaining 5 veterans at the same time seems to be a very reasonable principle, it has resulted in the team having no room for signings. Mkhitaryan stays at the midfield position. If the team wants to buy a new midfield, they must clear Aslani and Zelinsky at the same time. On the defense line, three veterans Archerby, Devry and Damian are left behind, and the organization has already exceeded the staff. If you want to buy a new defender, you can only rely on selling Paval or Bisek to make a position..

And if you do not introduce successors in some positions this year, you may need to add 4 new players in the three positions of dragging back, left midfielder and goalkeeper next summer window. And if you consider that Calhanolu will leave the team next year, you also need to introduce 1 strong new player in the midfielder! At the same time, buying so many people is enough, and the net transfer expenses of at least 100 million euros are enough, but will Oak Tree be willing to invest so much for two consecutive years? Of course, there are also low-cost operating methods. Devrey is retained to continue as a substitute, introducing only one drag-back center back, and allowing Martinez to take over as the starting goalkeeper. As for the left midfield position, there is no way to buy people.

Of course, part of the reason why Inter Milan retains these veterans is that the recruitment budget is limited. After the forward, right midfielder and left and right wing guards complete the recruitment, the current main budget is basically left to Lukeman, who is in the front midfielder position. There is really no funds on the defense line to introduce suitable successors, so he has no choice but to let the old donkeys continue to stick to it for a year!

The biggest reason why Inter Milan retains these veterans is economic considerations, a comprehensive choice under low salary costs and limited recruitment budgets. Of course, they will not become obvious shortcomings of the team at the competitive level, but the actual effect can only wait for the test of the new season! I hope the veterans will still bloom with brilliant fireworks in Inter Milan's last year and once again make a brilliant mark at the end of their career!