SoM Staff Roundtable: Who Should Replace Hakimi?

With Achraf Hakimi’s move to PSG all but certain, the transfer rumor mill has now moved on to who will succeed the Moroccan at the San Siro.

Who do you want to see signed as Hakimi’s replacement? It can be someone already linked with Inter or not, as long as it’s realistic.

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Mario - D’Ambrosio/Darmian. We sold Hakimi to raise funds, these two are serviceable enough, Darmian has proven he can fill in and D’Ambrosio when fit can do a fine job. May not be a popular opinion, but I have faith in these guys. Interisti see two games from Dumphries and get excited as per usual, but you still have to pay for the replacements and that forces more sales. It sucks it has to be this way to begin with, but I don’t think there’s many cost effective replacements for a player like Hakimi. Upgrade the position next season when the funds may be a little more readily available.

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David - Mario brings up a great point about in-house replacements. D’Ambrosio, Darmian, and potentially even Lazaro are cheap and can more or less get the job done. I wouldn’t mind a loanee like Hector Bellerin or Davide Zappacosta either. Why those two? From the players Inter has been linked with, Bellerin and Zappacosta are the only ones I see being allowed by their parent club to join on a temporary basis. A loan deal gives Inter a season to see if Bellerin or Zappacosta is the real deal and if they are, Inter can make the move permanent next summer when it has more to spend. As for who’s my first choice, I think Bellerin is the more interesting option. His defensive weaknesses can be masked in a 3-5-2 and maybe the Spaniard just needs a change of scenery to refind his pre-ACL injury form. Zappacosta, on the other hand, is nearing thirty and wasn’t very impressive with Genoa last season. But like Mario says, if anyone’s signed it should only be on a short-term basis.