Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Something I do want to talk about just just to finish up on on Inter is the former Inter youth player Wilfred Nionto who has been one of the revelations in
Speaker: Well, not just the Premier League, but all of European football in the last few months this season. He has absolutely exploded and he's having a fantastic 2023 in particular. He's got four goals in eight games for Leeds. Just a reminder, he's only just turned 19 towards the end of last year.
Speaker: And he is, he looks, I don't want to get ahead of us, but he looks like an absolute star of the future. And he looks destined for a big, for a big club, really. And, you know, he, if I think without him, I think leads are definitely getting relegated. He's carrying the team right now for 19 years of age. He just looks like, he looks like he's got everything. He looks like he's got absolutely everything.
Speaker: Technically, his first touch, his dribbling, his creativity. He makes goals, he scores goals. He can go right and left. He's so calm on the ball. He's a press -breaking machine. He's so press -resistant, but he's also strong. For someone who's very small, I think he's only about five foot six, five foot seven, about 19 years of age. He's very, very good at protecting the ball, getting his body in the way.
Speaker: He looks like he's got everything to make it to the very top. But he's somebody that only two or three years ago was at Inter's youth team and he left Inter, didn't he, at the age of 16. So this is something that Inter fans have been debating a lot, I've seen, on social media.
Speaker: How the hell could Intel let him go? What is wrong with us? First of all, Nimr, can you just tell us factually what actually happened? Why did Nionto leave? Let's remember that when he left Intel, he was 16 years old. And these are quotes. I've picked out quotes from Nionto.
Speaker: about Inter just when he left Inter and signed for Zurich on a free transfer on April 23, 2020. Since then to today, these are the things he said about Inter.
Speaker: I owe a lot to Inter. My eight years spent there fundamental for my growth as a man, as a player. Playing for or against Inter will always be a great honor. The sporting project has always been my prerogative and my career choices have always been made with that in mind. I felt at home at Inter. Another interview felt at home at Inter. At that time, my family and I thought it was best for my career to make the decision to leave.
Speaker: I'm grateful to Inter. I would like to return one day. Another interview. I felt at home at Inter, but I had to take the risk and leave to grow. I don't think I would have played for Italy national team so soon if I had stayed. So clearly we're talking about a player who is very positive.
Speaker: who sees his experience at Intera is incredibly positive. He was 16 years old when he left Intera. He was on a youth contract at Intera, and his contract expired. Intera offered him a contract extension. He declined it.
Speaker: FC Zurich offered his parents employment as part of the move plus guaranteed first -team football. Inter couldn't guarantee first -team football for Njonto. And I think it would have been wrong of Inter to guarantee him that either. I think it would have been bad for his development.
Speaker: Inter received 200 ,000 euros from Zurich for the solidarity youth development fee. So, Inter didn't lose Nyonto. Nyonto at 16 wasn't eligible to sign a professional contract as such, had to sign a youth contract and Zurich offered him the best package and as such he left and joined Zurich and through his own hard work, through his own hard development, showing what a
Speaker: character he is, he has brought himself to a position where Roberto Mancini called him up and he delivered, and then Leeds decided to capitalize on that, taking a chance on him, and brought him where he's been outstanding.
Speaker: So, you know, interim, so interim, I'm just asking the question here, interim, not to blame for losing Yonta. They couldn't offer him first team football and everything else that you've mentioned there. But if we're just looking at it from a footballing point of view, insert are not going to offer a 16 year old first team, regular first team football at the age of 16. And they would, in fact, they would have had Lukaku and Altaros that start attackers at that time anyway. But
Speaker: And also he's a, he's a winger. He's not a, you know, the inter don't play with wingers and playing. He can play, he can play this in the 40 plays. I get that. But I mean, if, if, if intranot to blame surely Italian football is to blame that we have to lose. And I'm not just talking about not signing back this summer. I want to come last summer. I want to come to that in a bit. But surely Italian football is to blame if they're losing.
Speaker: a 16 -year -old talent like this from the league entirely. Yes, I can totally understand that an established team as big as Inter, who Antonio Conte is their manager, that have La Torre and Luca Upfront, who are going for the Scudetti and then win the league. That's the 2021 season, therefore the following season. I can understand that. But to lose him completely from Italian football? That is a different debate. What can Italy do differently then to stop this from happening?
Speaker: Well, they need to continue doing what teams like Atalanta, Sasolo, Empoli, Udinese are doing. They need to spot the talents and they need to give them starting first -team football. That's the level they have to be at. Or if you have someone like Tahirovic or Zagnolo when he first burst onto the scene,
Speaker: at Roma. Look, he was 16. He wasn't the biggest star of that primavera site. He was a star, but he wasn't the biggest star. And he was a very young player for a primavera player. And Inter tried to keep him, and they couldn't.
Speaker: because he wanted first team football and he got that in playing in the Swiss league. And he took the chance as well. You have to remember, a lot of these young players, it's about taking that shot. He was given a shot in Switzerland, he took it. He was given a shot by Mancini, he immediately took it.
Speaker: But my issue is, after the international debut, for 4 .5 million euros, you're telling me not a single Italian team, from Atalanta to Udinese to Sassolo to whatever, couldn't spend 4 .5 million euros to get this guy?
Speaker: It's absolutely insane. I remember, do you remember I said it in the summer? Do you remember when the move went through and I said it and I go, it's absolutely, I cannot understand how on earth not a single Serie A team. They didn't even show an interest. They didn't even have to be a big team, even though the guy is clearly good enough for any of the big teams in Serie A. He's good enough for all of them. He is good enough for Juventus, for Milan. He's good enough for all of them right now. Watch him in the Premier League. He's been one of the best players in the Premier League in 2023.
