2023-10-29 11:49:00
It was the 50th minute in the Reale Arena in San Sebastián – Inter was reeling, La Real celebrated their furious offensive football and dominated the action.
A corner from the Basques was extended by Mikel Merino to Mikel Oyarzabal in the Milan penalty area, but the 26-year-old failed due to a lightning-fast reflex from keeper Yann Sommer.
It was the key scene of the evening and also summer’s first great moment in the Inter jersey. “We suffered,” summarized coach Simone Inzaghi after the game. “But summer helped us stay in the game.”
The scene described from the first Champions League matchday was now several weeks ago. However, the unanimous feeling that Inter scored a real hit on the transfer market with Sommer remains.
Summer and Inter: happy coincidence
It was a lucky coincidence for the players and the club that they looked for each other and found each other in August 2023. After Samir Handanovic (2012 – 2023) made plans for the goalkeeper position at Inter unnecessary for years, the Nerazzurri hired André Onana from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 to replace the now 38-year-old Slovenian. However, since Onana left after just one year in the fashion metropolis and moved to Manchester United for a whopping 52 million euros, Inter was suddenly forced to reschedule for the second time in a year.
As luck would have it, a top man, Sommer, suddenly became available. The 34-year-old, who was seen as temporary number one in Munich in the absence of sole ruler Manuel Neuer, was no longer satisfied with this role after six months at the club – and was looking for a new challenge.
Inter struck, sent almost seven million euros to Munich and can now congratulate themselves on a real coup.
Summer sets record
In order to claim the best start to Serie A for himself, Sommer has to hold out a little longer. Alisson, now between the posts at Liverpool FC, kept a total of seven clean sheets in his first eleven games in Italy.
Yann Sommer
Fotocredit: Getty Images
It is hardly surprising that summer is so popular in Italy. Even before his short stopover in Munich, he demonstrated his qualities over the years at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The 34-year-old was not only one of the best keepers in the Bundesliga, he also often impressed on the international stage.
Nevertheless, the impression recently emerged in Munich that Sommer was not always up to the big tasks. In Neuer’s shadow, the Swiss’s every action was scrutinized – his performance was not always judged fairly.
Summer is valued in Italy
In Italy it’s different. Sommer is valued here from day one and is perceived as the undisputed number one differently than in Munich.
Former Italian top goalkeeper Luca Marchegiani recently analyzed the new Inter keeper on the “Sky Calcio Club” show: “I liked Sommer before. He is a goalkeeper who is a little special in terms of his structure, he is a little smaller than the current average. He’s an old-fashioned goalkeeper, but he’s very quick to react, he has a great mentality, he knows how to be present in the game.”
For Marchegiani, who was active at Lazio between 1993 and 2003, Sommer is doing a more than good job. “Inter haven’t always needed the goalkeeper in recent games, but in the moments when he was needed – I’m thinking of the game against Real Sociedad, for example – Sommer was crucial.”
Summer repays the trust
This is often the case at top clubs. As a goalkeeper, you sometimes have long periods of rest before you suddenly have to be wide awake in the crucial moments.
Sommer knows this very well from his time with the German record champions, even if the name Manuel Neuer constantly hovered over him like a sword of Damocles and hindered him here and there.
Things are different in the fashion metropolis of Milan. Sommer has the dream solution in the bag and is currently repaying this trust with impressive performances; he faces the next test against AS Roma today (from 6:00 p.m. in the live ticker).
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