THE SCENARIO: It is July 2016. Inter Milan have appointed Italian coach Dino Livorno to replace Roberto Mancini following last season’s disappointing fourth placed finish. The poor league campaign means the club misses out on Champions League football for a fifth consecutive season. With Juventus having won the last five Serie A titles and Roma and Napoli established as their main competitors, can Livorno reinvigorate the Nerazzurri and get them back into the elite of Italian football or will they fall even further behind?

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1 July 2016

Chairman Erick Thohir has requested a meeting to discuss our expectations for the upcoming season. With Juventus miles ahead of every other team in Italy, I don’t think winning the title is realistic this year. We should still aim to finish in the top three so that we qualify for the Champions League next season though.

Turns out Erick agrees with me on one thing but disagrees on the other. He wants us to qualify for the Champions League but he wants it done by winning Serie A. If that wasn’t difficult enough, he also wants us to win the Europa League. Stronzo. He doesn’t seem to care about the Copa Italia though, as reaching the last 16 will do.

There also isn’t a huge amount of funds for further signings. €64 million sounds like a lot, but these days that only gets you two top players. We’ve done most of our transfer business anyway so I’ll only spend the money if there are glaring holes in my squad.

Inter Milan Squad

(*) indicates new signing

Goalkeepers: Tommaso Berni, Juan Pablo Carrizo, Samir Handanovic

Defenders: Marco Andreolli, Cristian Ansaldi*, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Miranda (on loan from Atletico Madrid), Jeison Murillo, Yuto Nagatomo, Trent Sainsbury*, Davide Santon, Eloge Yao Guy

Midfielders: Ever Banega*, Marcelo Brozovic*, Roberto Gagliardini* (on loan from Atalanta), Geoffrey Kondogbia, Joao Mario*, Gary Medel, Ivan Perisic

Forwards: Jonathan Biabiany, Antonio Candreva*, Eder (on loan from Sampdoria), Gabriel*, Mauro Icardi, Rodrigo Palacio

Loaned Out: Francesco Bardi, Daniel Bessa, Gaston Camara, Gianluca Caprari, Raffaele Di Gennaro, Dodo, Caner Erkin, Assane Gnoukouri, Juan Jesus, Stevan Jovetic, Samuele Longo, Rey Manaj, Senna Miangue, George Puscas, Andrea Ranocchia, Saphir Taider

Available for Loan: Axel Bakayoko, Michele Di Gregorio, Andrea Pinamonti, Ionut Radu

Overall there are some good players in this squad but I don’t think we have enough quality to end Juventus’ dominance of Serie A this season. We already have enough new signings to integrate into the squad though so I’ll only buy new players if we sell a few.

13 July 2016

For pre-season we’ll be heading east to South Korea to take part in the Invitational Cup. We’ll play two Spanish teams (Sevilla and Villarreal) and Japan’s FC Tokyo in our three group matches. If we finish in the top two of our group we’ll qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, I send promising young striker Andrea Pinamonti on a season long loan to Serie B side Vercelli.

I also reject a bid from French side Nice for Geoffrey Kondogbia. At only 23 years old he has his best years ahead of him and I’ll only consider selling him to an elite team when the time is right.

16 July 2016

Inter Milan vs Sevilla

The first group game of the Invitational Cup sees us take on Sevilla, who have won the last three Europa League titles.

Kondogbia gives us the lead with half an hour played, but Sevilla equalise within a few minutes through a great strike by Vitolo. Both sides have a few chances to score after half-time but most of our shots are off target, while theirs are saved by Carrizzo. In the end it finishes 1-1, which is probably a fair result.

19 July 2016

Villarreal vs Inter Milan

The second group game is against another Spanish team, Villarreal. We start brightly and Candreva heads against the post before Gagliardini shoots just wide. Icardi then scores the opener shortly afterwards with a well taken finish. I’ll be relying on him for goals this season, so it’s nice to see him score even if it’s only pre-season. Brozovic then makes a bozo-vic tackle to get sent off 10 minutes before half-time and suddenly we’re defending for our lives. Fortunately, we manage to hang on and Ansaldi seals the win with a looping header in injury time.

22 July 2016

Inter Milan vs FC Tokyo

With our two most difficult matches out of the way, we can seal a semi-final place with a win against FC Tokyo. A lone Icardi goal ensures the job is done, but our finishing in this match is disappointing. Our other strikers had better improve or I’ll get rid of them in this transfer window. We’ll play English giants Manchester United in the semi-final, and we’ll need to play better if we hope to beat them.

24 July 2016

Inter Milan vs Manchester United

The semi-final against Manchester United ends up being rather disappointing as they play a reserve team. You’d think we end up winning because of this, but even with a first choice team we struggle to score. Icardi wins a penalty in the second half after being fouled by his compatriot Marcos Rojo, but blasts his effort against the bar. Perisic can only head the rebound against the post and it finishes 0-0.

With no extra-time being played in the tournament, we go straight to penalties. Misses by Medel and Juan Mata lead to sudden death, and Santon steps up to give us a 4-3 lead. The pressure proves too much for Rojo as he smacks his shot into orbit. We’ve made it to the final, where we’ll play FC Seoul, who beat Villarreal, also on penalties.

25 July 2016

Icardi clearly made enough of an impression on Manchester United yesterday to make them bid for him. €54.5 million is a lot, but even with all that money am I really going to be able to sign an adequate replacement? I think not, so they can go look elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Medel is wanted by German side Hoffenheim. His ability to play in the middle of defence as well as midfield is an asset though so I decide to keep him for now. However, I do say arrivederci to Palacio and his silly hairstyle. At 34, he’s too old to be a major contributor and I want to replace him with a younger attacking midfielder to rotate with Banega.

Meanwhile I also allow some loan departures as Axel Bakayoko joins Stevenage in England and Ionut Radu joins Ireland’s Sligo Rovers.

26 July 2016

FC Seoul vs Inter Milan

A David vs Goliath final goes exactly as expected as we dominate the match. Some great saves from FC Seoul’s goalkeeper deny us an early lead, but we finally break through in the 35th minute. Banega’s shot is deflected in by the unwitting Gabriel, who proceeds to celebrate as if he meant it. Idiota. The second half is largely the same story as their keeper thwarts us repeatedly before Icardi makes it 2-0 near the end. Despite this being a trophy winning pre-season, I still have questions about some of the players. There might be some more transfer activity after all.