Despite A Net Spend Of £15m Inter Milan Are Riding High In Seria A.

For seven years since winning the treble (Champions League, Seria A and Coppa Italia) under Jose Mourinho in 2010, Inter Milan have fallen from grace to grass unable to replicate the form that made them one of the best sides in European football. In all the Italian club have signed more than 50 players , appointed seven different managers as well as having three different owners all in the space of five years.

All that appears to have changed with a plan to obey Financial Fair Play rules as well as building the right environment to work where players and coaching staff an excel. With city rivals AC Milan spending more than £150m on player signings in the summer, Napoli, Juventus and Roma consolidating on existing players by making big signings Inter had to sell star players like Ever Banega as well as the loaning of Murillo, Kondogbia and Jesus Barbosa to mention a few in order to balance the books. In total, the Nerazzurri realised £75m from player sales while spending £55m on new signings in the summer. 

The result is an Inter which has defied the odds under new Chinese owner Zhang Jindong sitting in second position, two points behind leaders Napoli and one ahead of defending Champions Juventus. Under former Roma coach ( Luciano Spalletti), the Italian side have played with the hunger and drive that has been missing over the years. With a record of 26 points from 10 games (club's second best ever points in their 109 years history ), it easy to see why this is the best points Inter have gained since the 1997-1998 season under Gigi Simone who had the likes of Ronaldo, Djorkaeff, Recoba and Simeone. This is impressive considering this same side finished 7th and where 24 points behind third placed Napoli last season. 

With the addition of Milan Skriniar, Juan Miranda has fared better partnering impressively with him in central defence to say the least. Veteran full backs Danilo D'Ambrosio (29) and Yuto Nagatomo (31 and given a standing ovation in the 3-2 win against Sampdoria on Tuesday) have played the best football of their careers due to competition from understudy youngsters Joan Cancelo and Dalbert . In central midfield new signings Borja Valero  and Matias Vecino have been excellent continuing from where they stopped while in Fiorentina together, with 23-year-old new signing Gagliadini showing flashes of brilliance to add to the mix. Despite being in his 30s Antonio Candreva has sparked to life often changing positions with Ivan Perisic who was linked all summer to Manchester United before signing a new deal. 

To add icing on the cake Captain and star striker Mario Icardi (24) has become almost unplayable in the last 15 months having scored  11 goals already this season which is not even as impressive as his 35 goals in his last 44 Seria A games (more than 100 goals for Inter across all competitions since 2013 for less than £11m).

Despite it been too early for optimism it is worthy of note that Inter do not play any European football this season and as a result will have ample time in training with no European distraction as the fans continue to hope for the best .