The Zenit St Petersburg Coach was in charge of the Nerazzurri for a second time in the 2015-16 season, and after a strong start to the season they tailed off in the second half to finish fourth, outside of the Champions League places.
A similar trend appears to be developing this season, with Luciano Spalletti undefeated until December 16 but having failed to win in seven games across all competitions.
“It’s different,” Mancini opined, speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport.
“We rebuilt the team, now the team has two years of experience plus many millions of investment. We finished the first half of the season in the lead despite having obvious shortcomings.
“At that point signings were needed in January to keep up, but it was only about selling. A club like Inter can’t just think about getting into the Champions League, you have to aim to win.
“The next summer’s signings? Gabigol was young, it would have been better to loan him out right away. Joao Mario was identical to [Marcelo] Brozovic. I needed something different.
“A quick striker, capable of attacking opposition defences when they close up. But at that point money was being spent and it wasn’t clear who was deciding. There was confusion.
“I’d have kept [Geoffrey] Kondogbia. He has a particular character, he needs to be protected, but he has talent, he was quality. In fact he’s always the best at Valencia.
“Mateo Kovacic? There were some harsh confrontations between us. I told him: ‘reject everything and explode here!’.
“But Real [Madrid] came in and there was a need for the money.
“What does Spalletti need? I haven’t seen Inter much. Maybe a quick striker like [Dries] Mertens, someone who scores like [Mauro] Icardi.
“I see them finishing third. For me, even like this, they’re stronger than Roma and Lazio. They’ll have to invest this summer though.
“I see Roma as more equipped [than Lazio], Lazio have qualities that the exploit well though, and they have the right spirit.”
That would put the Scudetto race down to two teams, does that mean Mancini thinks Juventus will win it, rather than Napoli?
“Yes, they’re the best equipped and they have that desire that comes from their history. You don’t learn to win in five minutes.
“I remember the faces [Roberto] Bettega, [Beppe] Furino and [Marco] Tardelli had when I faced them on the pitch.
“The Inter of my Scudetti had men like that.
“I fear Napoli will struggle with European matches on a Thursday, but I’m sure they’ll stay with Juve to the very end.
“Their beautiful game will continue to yield results.”
Mancio launched Mario Balotelli’s career, and he was asked for his opinion on the Nice striker.
“I haven’t followed him much, but I see that he’s scoring a lot of goals. That’s what I want, I hope he can still get a lot of satisfaction.
“He’s only 27, he has to go back to the national team. Someone like him can decide certain matches on his own.
Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho have been involved in a pretty spectacular spat in recent days…
“You’ll see, they’ll meet and it will end up with tarallucci and wine.”
