Zanetti keen for Skriniar to stay with Inter ´for a long time´

Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti hopes Milan Skriniar will stay with the club “for a long time”, warning he could regret any move away from the Italian giants.

The Slovakia captain joined the Nerazzurri from Sampdoria in 2017 and has since emerged as one of their standout performers.

Centre-back Skriniar was one of the key figures during the club’s run to the 2020-21 Serie A title, but he was involved in a transfer saga earlier this year, with Paris Saint-Germain pursuing his services.

The defender stayed on, but his contract expires at the end of the season. Zanetti, who spent 19 years as a player with Inter, is keen for Skriniar to commit his long-term future to the club.

“I often speak with the boys and Skriniar has a very important profile for how he approaches the culture of work,” Zanetti told Il Giorno. “I was like that in the past: speaking little, showing a lot.

“I hope he will stay with us for a long time. When I arrived in Milan, Inter was the best choice for me, and I spent my entire career here.”

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Zanetti further suggested Skriniar could come to regret a departure if he chooses not to renew, drawing on his own experiences of former colleagues who left the club.

“Many of my team-mates during my career decided to change teams. With time, they confessed to me it was a big mistake to leave Inter,” Zanetti said.

Inter lost their last match of the Champions League group stage to Bayern Munich this week, but they qualified for the last-16 stage regardless following Barcelona’s poor campaign.

Simone Inzaghi’s team will next play Juventus on Sunday, before games against Bologna and Atalanta wrap up their year ahead of the mid-season break for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.