Inter President Steven Zhang Creating Unrest In Nerazzurri Squad After Wage Cut Request, Italian Media Reveal | OneFootball

Inter’s players are growing increasingly unhappy with Steven Zhang and his desire to cut their wages, according to a report in the Italian media tonight.

As per FcInterNews.it, the Nerazzurri are in a ‘delicate’ situation because there is unrest within the squad after yesterday’s meeting at Appiano Gentile.

Zhang asked Inter’s players to give up two monthly installments of their wages, so that Suning didn’t put too much pressure on Inter’s accounts for the financial year ending on June 30.

However, what really annoys Inter’s players is that these are designed to be permanent wage cuts, not simply a one-off measure to ease financial concerns in the short term.

The players have ‘erected a wall of discontent’ at this proposal from Zhang, but they would be prepared to further postpone the payments they are due for another year.

Zhang’s request was particularly difficult to digest for those who had already agreed contract extensions – Stefan de Vrij, Alessandro Bastoni and Lautaro Martinez – and still don’t know when they’ll be able to sign the new deals.

With this state of affairs it is inevitable that players will be disheartened and that agents will begin assessing their options in the transfer market, the report explained, perhaps reviving contacts they have had with other clubs in recent weeks.

Inter’s dressing room remains united and they are convinced that they can win the Serie A title again next year, even without investments in the upcoming transfer window.

The players are confident they would just need to keep most of the current squad together and hand it over to Antonio Conte, in order to compete in the league and perhaps have progress in Europe.

They are therefore open to helping Suning combat their problems, but they won’t accept sacrifices that are too big and they certainly won’t agree to the cuts Zhang has proposed.

Inter’s players would agree to defer monthly payments but they will not accept wage cuts, and the club will need to respect the agreements they’ve made regarding contract extensions.

In addition to this, Suning must keep Conte on board if everyone is to continue their project together, but all of these promises will be difficult for them to keep until they have sorted their financial problems.

If Suning cannot secure wage cuts from the squad then they will have no option but to sell players such as Romelu Lukaku, Nicolo Barella, Lauraro or Bastoni, and they won’t get top prices given the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What’s more, they would have very little chance of persuading Conte to stay if they sold off key members of his starting XI, which would worsen the state of play still further.

Inter’s problems can be solved if Suning make ‘a step forward’, but FCIN warned that as things stood that didn’t seem to be feasible.

Should they secure the loan deal they are chasing, to cover Inter’s immediate payment obligations, they would be able to buy more time and push the problem further down the road.

What’s for sure, the report concluded, is that they cannot be too heavy-handed with their requests to players in the meantime, or the discontent will increase even more.