#360view: De Boer was wrong man at the wrong time

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  • De Boer lasted just 85 days at the San Siro.

    August 2016 was supposedly a statement month for Internazionale. New owners, bold ambitions and a bright coach in Frank De Boer arriving in Milan.

    The Nerazzurri had brought one of Europe’s most coveted managerial minds to the Guiseppe Meazza while eye-catching additions in the transfer market were made in Antonio Candreva, Gabriel Barbosa and Joao Mario.

    However, once the posturing died down and the optimism dissipated, it soon became clear what scrambled planning had taken place in the lead up to this season. Sacking Roberto Mancini on August 8, appointing De Boer 24 hours later and then making two marquee additions in Joao Mario and Gabriel in the last few days of the transfer window – with the Brazilian’s transfer unsanctioned by the new manager – was only the tip of it all.

    Inter’s board had clearly adopted a win-now mentality. Their outlay in the market was significant and designed (or, more to the point, hoped) to thrust the club back to the forefront of Italian football having tread water since their Champions League-led treble of 2010.

    As Suning chairman Zhang Jindong said upon completion of his deal to buy a 38 per cent stake in June: “Our goal is to make Internazionale Milano more internazionale. From this day forward, as the team takes root in the largest football fan market, Internazionale Milano will be presented with greater opportunities than ever before.”

    In order to capture attention in a market already occupied with Premier League football plus Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico – 20 per cent owned by the Wanda Group – lying 13th in Serie A isn’t going to be much of a vote winner.

    De Boer was probably wise to such requirements but clearly the board was not wise to his. Because while the Dutchman has many credentials, his CV had been broadened with success at Ajax, working within the financial confines of Dutch football. That is, to develop and hone a team mainly drawn from an academy and operate within a situation while regularly losing your best players. In order to achieve this you need a long-term strategy, you cannot work on the fly.

    It’s what Ajax have had to do for so many years, and, relatively speaking, do it better than most. And an attitude that can only rub off on a manager who’s spent 24 years of his life, as player and coach, at the Amsterdam Arena.

    But to implement that ethos at Inter it needed both parties to be on the same page; in order to get the best out of Inter, De Boer wanted and needed time to be Frank De Boer. In order for him to get the best out of Inter, Suning required De Boer to be Jose Mourinho. They gave him 85 days.

    Other than the awareness they were hiring a promising mind like De Boer’s, did Suning or anyone else conduct any kind of interview process, to determine whether or not he was suited to their methodology?

    It reveals the haphazard structure at the top of the world’s 16th richest club, and one that, unless lessons are learned will continue with a self-perpetuating cycle of expensive mediocrity, until they happen to stumble on the right man. A process that isn’t exclusively reserved to Internazionale.

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