De Vrij? Pfftttt. Martinez? Please... It's Kwadwo Asamoah the most underrated and overlooked signing and here is why.
Inter transfer market has been nothing but fireworks. Piero Ausilio and the rest of management are moving very well, trying to give Luciano Spalletti a competitive team on all three fronts next season. There have been a lot of talks about Lautaro Martinez, the best prospect in Argentina, De Vrij, one of the top defenders in Serie A if not Europe, and Nainggolan, a world class midfielder, but no one has talked enough about Kwadwo Asamoah who is just a “normal” signing. Well, let’s take a look at why this acquisition is the most underrated of them all.
The Ghanian is here to erase the curse on the left wing where there have been many names but positive memories for those names are seriously lacking: Silvestre, Marcellari, Gresko, Coco, Grosso and more recently Santon, Nagatomo and Dalbert. The results were anything but positive. The first two have just left the club while the 24 year-old Brazilian remains at Pinetina. But it will be the Ghanaian, who will turn 30 years old on December 9th and in all probability already today will be made official together with De Vrij and Lautaro Martinez, to take that part of the field. Because Kwadwo (which means Monday, like the day he was born) knows how to defend and attack, knows how to re-model his game to combat his opponent. He is faithful to tactical orders and has the age and experience that this Inter must necessarily have in the Champions League.
BIANCONERO - Arrived in 2008, first at Torino (six months without debuting in the first team) and then Udinese, Asamoah truly became great at Juventus. Called to Vinovo by Antonio Conte in 2012 and that was when he transformed himself in Turin: “I was born to play in the midfield but with Conte, I found myself on the flank and I really like that role. Anyway, I just play where I am needed the most. The coach will decide and I just execute it.” It was the same Conte that wanted Asamoah at Chelsea at zero cost. Napoli made an inquiry for him as well. However, thanks to the offer of sporting director of Inter, Piero Ausilio, the Ghanaian decided to leave Turin to go to the Black and Blue side of Milan, convinced by a three-year contract at 2.5 million plus bonuses. In mid-May, Kwadwo went on to his social media account to say farewell to the Juventus world: “It will be absolutely difficult to play against Juventus in the future but I had to make this decision in the interest of my family and I hope and wish that the fans can understand and accept my decision.”
Now, perhaps already today, he will finally be able to speak as an Inter player. Very religious (in his room as a kid, he had posters of Ronaldinho and Pirlo next to the images of Jesus), devoted to his family, Asamoah will get back the starting role that he lost at Juventus because with Allegri, he was a luxurious option coming off the bench. A bad problem in the cartilage of his left knee at the end of 2014 bothered him for a long time but Kwadwo totally recovered from it. That is why he will be very important in providing Spalletti equilibrium. Asamoah can be used in the 3-4-2-1 formation to which the coach is thinking about (with Skriniar, De Vrij and Miranda forming a dam in the back), or in the more classic 4-2-3-1. And Luciano, like he said at the beginning of the transfer market, is already sure of his role: “Kwadwo is a great player. He can be a protagonist immediately.”