What’s next for Suning here at Inter?

When The Suning Group first took over at Inter responses were mixed between optimism and caution. The new owners arrived promising transfer war chests, new globalized revenue, and Inter’s return to the pinnacles of the sport; but fans wanted to see some results before making any premature judgments. Well this summer the new overlords cracked open their checkbooks and dropped over €90m on Antonio Candreva, Joao Mario, and Gabriel Barbosa (and will likely have to pay another €14m for Stevan Jovetic at some point this first half of the season) without selling any important players. While the new signing cannot be included in the Europa League squad to comply with FFP this was still a very impressive summer and Suning will have gone a long way towards winning the hearts of Inter fans, but they still have much more they need to do:

Ensure the club doesn’t get raided in the future

This summer we saw a lot of rumors focused on players walking away from the city of Milan but luckily (or unluckily depending on which players) nobody really did. Frank De Boer has a very strong squad on paper that a lot of clubs would love to poach from, and Suning needs to make sure they sign new contracts to fend off interest. Mauro Icardi and Marcelo Brozovic are the first priority, while Gary Medel reportedly will also be having contract talks in the near future. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new owners (or FdB) have a chat with Samir Handanovic to see how interested he would be in a new contract as well. This doesn’t apply just to players though, AC Milan has been sniffing around Piero Ausilio after already coming to an agreement with Marco Fassone and Inter cannot afford to let Ausilio leave. He has done really good work since taking over from Branca and Suning is already tuned into this fact, as they reportedly plan to offer him a new contract this week.

Find new sources of revenue

One of the things Erick Thohir must be credited for is stabilizing the club. When he first took over Inter had been hemorrhaging money for years, and he managed to reduce that to a more acceptable level while making partnerships and business deals to bring in more cash. Suning needs to continue that and take it to another level. While Thohir does have access to foreign markets Suning is already a business superpower in China and should be able to find lucrative sponsorships easier than Thohir could. They should not just limit their focus to China though, Thohir already laid the groundwork for increased marketability in Indonesia and other Asian markets, plus despite our USA summer horror show the states are a market the new owners should start seriously looking into. All this new revenue is necessary not only to help balance the books but also because they need to...

Figure out what to do about the stadium

After AC Milan royally screwed over our plans to buy and renovate the San Siro as our exclusive home, Inter has been in a bit of limbo in terms of what to do. Juventus has proven that a self-owned stadium makes a world of revenue difference, and with AS Roma already unveiling their plans for a new home Suning needs to start looking into this question. While it would be nice to wait for our cousin’s new owners to arrive so the two Chinese consortiums can decide together who stays at the San Siro and who leaves to make their own ground, I hope that Suning will take the initiative and start making plans for Inter to have its own grounds. Yes it’s probably the more costly option but a new stadium also allows for commercial and entertainment areas that can pull in even more revenue in the long run. A new stadium would be the perfect way for Suning to make their mark at Inter.