? Inter: Sommer a liability? 0-1 starts, Donnarumma in summer...

Inter, is there a Sommer problem? The saying goes, "Two clues make a proof," and maybe, therefore, it's time to ask the question.

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The first clue—actually a double one—came in September, during the defeat in the Derby d'Italia against Juventus. Two interventions that were far from perfect, gifting the Bianconeri all three points in the big match of Serie A's third round.

Then yesterday, against Milan, the short rebound that allowed Pulisic to score the match-winning goal with the easiest of tap-ins. All this while, on the other side of the pitch, his Rossoneri counterpart, Mike Maignan, was saving the impossible, repeatedly shutting the door on Inter's attacks and even stopping the penalty from the (almost) always infallible Çalhanoglu. 

? Starting from 0-1

In the ten Serie A matches played so far, Sommer has kept a clean sheet just four times. Out of 32 shots faced, he has conceded 11 goals, which means that 34.38% of the shots end up in the net. 

Maignan, for example, has saved 73.53% of shots, 25 out of 34. In other words, and to simplify, with the Swiss keeper the data suggests you start from 0-1, while with Maignan the story is different (the Frenchman concedes an average of 0.85 goals per game, compared to Sommer's 1.1).

But beyond the numbers, there’s more. Last night’s derby highlighted the big difference between a goalkeeper who was saving, coming off his line, and commanding his area, and one who didn’t seem in control of his own box. One play was exemplary, with a couple of balls dropping into the six-yard box and Sommer glued to his goal line, just seconds after a confident intervention from Maignan at the other end.

? Should an investment have been made?

Given what happened to Martinez a few weeks ago—the Spaniard was involved in a car accident in which someone lost their life—it’s hard to imagine an imminent change between the posts, and so, on social media, many are wondering whether it might be time to make a move in January to cover their backs with a high-level signing. 

In reality, this hypothesis can be ruled out from the start, for economic and project-related reasons. Maybe, though, the opportunity had presented itself in the summer, when Donnarumma had not yet reached an agreement with City.

Trevisani: "Dico una cosa sull'Inter: 45 milioni per Lookman, 45 milioni per Kone. Ma 45 milioni per...Gigio Donnarumma. Questo era l'acquisto da fare. E costava meno di 45 quindi diciamo che il primo anno di ingaggio andava col costo del cartellino. Poi certo dovevi pagargli… pic.twitter.com/8CAq7mcwf6

— Daniele Mari (@marifcinter) September 16, 2025

Given the 25 million spent on Luis Henrique (his exclusion in the derby seems to put an end to his Milanese experience), it makes you think that amount could have been sent to PSG to bring the national team goalkeeper to San Siro. Of course, there would also have been the matter of the 1999-born player's salary, but a little extra effort would have secured the position for the next ten years, bringing in one of the best in the world.

Considering the unspent summer budget (45 million had been set aside for Lookman and Koné) and the transfer fee for Gigio to City (30 million), it seems there was a way to make it work. Of course, with ifs and buts, you get nowhere. Still, who knows what kind of league table we’d be talking about now.

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