Manchester City Beat Inter to the Punch to Add Prodigy | OneFootball

Inter have planned to invest in a new defender and to rejuvenate their squad, as their front office has indicated a few times, but one of their possible targets already fell through since Manchester City scooped up Abdukodir Khusanov in January, Fabrizio Romano relays (via SOSFanta).

The Nerazzurri had been following him for the summer, but the Sky Blues acted more quickly than any other team, including Real Madrid. They paid €40M to convince Lens to let him go midway through the season. He has already played six times and scored once since transferring to England.

Inter were eyeing Khusanov as a potential heir to either Stefan De Vrij or Francesco Acerbi. They will move on from at least one of their veterans. The latter seemed the likeliest candidate due to an injury-ridden season, but he’s been in great form in recent games.

The Nerazzurri have often been attached to Bologna’s Sam Beukema, who could push to join a top side in the summer after a few solid years at Bologna. They’ll likely miss out on Jonathan Tah, as Barcelona continue to lead such a race. They are working on another potential Bosman target: Olivier Boscagli, who has shined at PSV.

Our Take on Inter and Khusanov

They have signaled their intention multiple times, but it’s hard to imagine they’ll ever make investments of that size. It’ll be interesting to see whether they’ll acquire somebody like Yann Aurell Bisseck, who was a project when he came in, or if they’ll splurge a little for somebody who would be ready right away. Beukema is younger than their current contributors but isn’t a starlet.