Ranocchia and Carrizo sign new Inter contracts

The summer months don't just see teams making moves in the transfer market to buy or sell players. This is also one of the main times when clubs re-sign their players to longer contracts (usually either in order to ward off the interest of other clubs, bump up prices if the player will be sold, or in order to reward a player with a new contract if it is about to expire). Inter have made two of the latter contract extensions.

First, reports emerged that Juan Pablo Carrizo had renewed his contract with Inter until 2017. The 31 year old served as backup to Handanovic this past season and was a regular in the Coppa Italia and Europa League. Though he did have some difficulties in the Europa League, he is a cheap backup option who can (usually) put in a fairly reliable shift in goal.

Some may have wanted to see Bardi brought back to be Handanovic's backup but a couple of times the young Italian has said that he wants to return to Inter as the starting keeper. Though he had a decent U-21 European Championship he showed that he still has some improving to do so the best option is to keep loaning out Bardi so he can get consistent playing time and keep Carrizo around a little while longer.

A couple of hours later Inter released a statement confirming that Andrea Ranocchia has also signed a contract extension, this one lasting until June 2019. The 29 year old has amassed 156 appearances for the Nerazzurri, but too few of them have been kind of consistent performances one would expect from a team captain.

The Italian international must know that he needs to step up his game next season. Not only will this be the year the team is expected to surge back up the Serie A table (so pretty much everybody will have to improve on their performances) but he will have some new additions to fight off at center-back. With Murillo having a spectacular Copa America and Miranda coming in with high expectations, Ranocchia will know that he will either have to play a whole lot better or he will find himself sitting on the bench for a majority of the season, captain or not.

So while these two contract renewals might not generate a whole lot of excitement among Inter fans, one can hope that these two players will do some good for the team over the course of the season. If not, their longer contracts mean they can be sold in the future.