Player Focus: Is Hernanes the Right Man to Save Inter?

As Hernanes drove out of Formello for the last time, he wound down the window to sign some autographs for the Lazio supporters gathered by the roadside. The affection they showed him, even though it was clear he was leaving for Inter, choked the midfielder up. With tears streaming down his face, he offered a pair of boots as a token of his gratitude.

It was a touching moment. Hernanes claimed to receive 10,000 text messages from Lazio fans over the next 48 hours first begging him to stay then wishing him all the best in the future. So moved was he by them that he declared his intention to stop using the phone and put it on his mantle piece with his other trophies.

Owner Claudio Lotito wasn’t so lucky. He has instead been inundated with death threats. One disgruntled fan even called during a press conference that Lotito gave before the meeting of the league. In a piece of showmanship, he put him on loudspeaker. How upset Lazio supporters were at losing Hernanes only served to underline what a fine player Inter are getting. But is it really such a good move for them?

Viewed from a certain financial perspective, no it’s not. Hernanes was in the final 18 months of his contract at Lazio. He’d been offered a new one but the indications were he wouldn’t sign. So by selling him now for €15m with another €5m due in performance-related add-ons, Lotito is getting top dollar for him. It’s a lot of money for a 28-year-old like Hernanes. It’s expensive too for a club like Inter, where we’re led to believe money is tight.

Many questions are being asked of them. For instance: what happened to Inter needing to sell to buy and to new owner Erik Thohir’s guidelines for recruitment? Didn’t he recommend Inter sign players aged 26 or under with resale value and that they be given deals of no more than €2.5m a year tops? Hernanes’ is thought to be more than €3m per annum until 2018. Surely a player like Jorginho - 22 and available to co-own at €5.5m - would have met Thohir’s criteria better.

The lack of coherence at Inter is exasperating. Remember only the previous week they were so determined to sign a striker that they offered one of their few difference makers Fredy Guarin to rivals Juventus in exchange for Mirko Vucinic, only to pull out amid fan protests. Did Inter then go and find another forward, satisfying that identified need? No. Instead they went all-in on Hernanes, a player they could have signed in 2010 for less money and to a cheaper deal.

So why didn’t they then? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, after two years of promises to the player and to his family, Inter used their one non-EU slot on Philippe Coutinho, who lest we forget they gave up on this time last season. That meant in order to register Hernanes, they’d have to park him elsewhere for a year, like at Chievo, an idea they explored which didn’t sit well with the player. Second, timing was an issue. Inter needed to sell to buy after the treble and only cashed in on Mario Balotelli in August by which time Lazio had pulled off quite the coup in beating more illustrious competition to Hernanes’ signature.

Typical, Inter eh. Oh well, it’s better late than never. After all, Hernanes is the kind of player Inter need. Their midfield lacks quality, and no more so was that evident than in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Juventus in the Derby d’Italia.

The contrast between Juventus’ midfield, comprising Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo and Inter’s of Saphir Taider, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Mateo Kovacic was stark. Very stark. Look at it this way: Juventus’ trio has scored 19 more goals this season and has also assisted in nine more, they make on average 55.8 more passes per game, 3.4 more key passes, 3.5 more shots and 3.7 more tackles. There is no contest.

The context, however, is that the midfield Inter put out on Sunday isn’t their first choice. Its organiser Esteban Cambiasso was out injured. Guarin wasn’t in the squad, apparently unable to concentrate in training amid the transfer speculation surrounding him over the last fortnight. And Hernanes wasn’t registered in time because the banks closed at 5pm on deadline day so the guarantees Inter required couldn’t be supplied until they opened again on Monday.

A central midfield made up of the three looks quite promising on paper, even if there are reservations about Cambiasso’s ability literally to ‘run’ a game and whether Guarin can get his head straight again given he’d already started thinking of himself as a Juventus player. There are other options too.

Alternatively, coach Walter Mazzarri could seek to replicate what he did at Napoli: just swap Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik behind Edi Cavani for Hernanes and one of either Guarin or Ricky Alvarez behind Rodrigo Palacio.

That’s not to everyone’s liking. Some would prefer Hernanes to play like he did for Sao Paulo, in front of the defence, directing the play a la Pirlo. Others would prefer it if Kovacic was allowed - Mazzarri permitting - to grow into that role in light of his talent and how they invested €11m in him only a year ago. Also, Hernanes has established a reputation in Italy for operating further forward, usually between the lines of midfield and attack where his dribbling ability [he averages 1.6 per game] allows him to create space for himself to shoot [on average 2.5 times per game].

Of course, we’ll have to wait until the weekend to see where Mazzarri deploys him. Without a win in 2014, only Livorno, Chievo and Sunday’s opponents Sassuolo, who Inter beat 7-0 in September, have taken fewer points since the turn of the year. With that in mind it’s no understatement to say that Inter need the player known as the Prophet to be something of a revelation.

Will Hernanes have the desired impact at Inter? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below