Inter Milan News

Matteo Sargenti, councillor for sports in San Donato, says the project will provide “services for the city”, but has stressed that the club’s plans are still in their infancy

Inter are considering building a new stadium in San Donato as plans to quit San Siro gather pace.

The Nerazzuri have shared the famous Giuseppe Meazza ground with city rivals AC Milan, although rumours they are seeking a new home have repeatedly surfaced over recent years.

Club president Massimo Moratti is believed to favour the plot of land in the San Donato district, which is currently owned by oil and gas giants Eni, as a potential site for a major new development which will feature shops and restaurants as well as a 60,000-seater stadium.

Matteo Sargenti, the councillor for sports in San Donato, has stressed that the plans remain in a draft stage at present, and that both the club and the local populace must be consulted before developments can begin.

“The Inter project will be not just a stadium, but a project that provides services for our city,” he was quoted as saying by Tuttosport. “We are waiting for Inter’s final decision; at the moment it’s just a draft plan.

“Moreover, before we decide about it, we’ll ask the local citizens for their opinion.”

The sports complex is not expected to be ready prior to at least the 2017-18 season, with the total cost of the proposed development still unknown.

APPIANO GENTILE – Mateo Kovacic was introduced to the press
earlier at the Centro Sportivo Angelo Moratti. Speaking in German, the
young Croatian midfielder gave his first impressions of the club:

“I’m
very happy to be here, I’m proud to play for such a big club. Who do I
aspire to? Robert Prosinecki is my favourite footballer of all time,
but I like being myself. I’m honoured to wear the 10 shirt, but it’s not
about the number, I need to play well.”

What did
Kovacic think when he found out he was on his way to Inter, aged just 18? “Nothing in
particular, I was a bit surprised and, I must confess, I still can’t
believe I’m here.”

He joins from Dinamo Zagreb, one of
the best academies in Europe, where other talents coming through include
Alen Halilovic: “I’d be delighted if talents like Halilovic were to
join and I hope others will come in.”

In Croatia Kovacic played both in defensive and attacking midfield. At Inter he thinks he “can play both.”

“I’m
good at both but it’s not up to me. That’s the coach’s job. What
matters is that I give it everything. I really like the tactical side
and I think I can offer a lot through the middle,” he explained.

Learning Italian will take a while longer but Kovacic feels “very lucky to have team-mates who speak my language. Yours is beautiful, I’ll try and learn it as quick as I can. I know Italian football is tough but I’ll get used to it.”

He’ll let his feet do the rest of the talking: “I must admit that we played badly last Sunday, but we’ll get back to winning ways and make those three points up.”

APPIANO GENTILE – A brisk warm-up, team tactics and a match to finish: this was the order of the day for the Nerazzurri as they trained for the fourth time this week ahead of Sunday’s late game against Chievo. The Serie A Week 24 match will be played at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday 10 February.

MILAN – FC Internazionale wish to announce that ticket sales will begin at 10:00 on Monday 11 February for the away section reserved for Nerazzurri fans for Fiorentina v Inter, the Week 25 match of the 2012/13 Serie A season scheduled for Sunday 17 February at the Stadio Artemia Franchi in Florence (kick-off 20:45).

The price of a ticket in the away section is 30 euros through the TicketOne circuit and can only be purchased by presenting a Tessera del Tifoso – Fan Card.

Click here for more information on the stadium. 

MILAN – After 23
rounds of Serie A games, the average attendance figure for all 20 top-flight clubs is 23,523, up
by 1.3% on last year’s 23,214. It is the first time in five years that Serie A crowd figures have stopped falling. There was a 0.8% decrease from 2008/09 to 2009/10, a 2.6% drop between
2009/10 and 2010/11 and a further 6.7% decline from 2010/11 to
2011/12. Despite this season’s upturn, the overall figures
show that attendances have plummeted by 8.7% when comparing 2008/09 figures with numbers from the
current campaign.

The two Milan clubs
continue to lead the way for average home attendances: AC
Milan recorded the highest average attendance last season (49,020),
ahead of Inter (44,806) and Napoli (39,808). Inter
(44,201) are in the ascendency this term, followed by AC Milan (40,876) and
Roma (39,506). The Giallorossi have boosted home
attendance figures by 9% on last season (36,219 in 2011/12; 39,506 this year). But Fiorentina’s home crowds have swelled the most of all Serie A clubs: average attendance is 12.7%
higher than last season.

Numbers have dropped at Sicilian stadiums (-10% at Palermo’s Stadio
Barbera, -11.9% at Catania’s Stadio Massimino) but also at Udinese
(-10.4%), Genoa (-9.7%) and Siena (-7.1%). Attendance figures are
largely unchanged at Atalanta, Bologna, Parma and
Napoli.

The statistics were revealed in the Osservatorio Calcio Italiano’s
Report n.2/2013 , based on Stadiopostcards’ online database.