Inter's Firm Stance on Stankovic Amid Transfer Talks
Inter lock the door on Stankovic as Romero talks hit wage wall
Inter have delivered a message to the market this summer: the crown jewels are not for sale. Not even for €40 million.
That was the figure Brentford put on the table for Aleksandar Stankovic, fresh from a breakout season at Club Brugge and a Jupiler Pro League title that ended with him being named Young Player of the Year in Belgium. For a club that constantly walks the tightrope between sporting ambition and financial reality, it was the kind of bid that usually starts a conversation.
This time, there was no conversation.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Inter, the player, and the Stankovic family all arrived at the same answer in record time: no. No negotiations, no counter-proposals, no “let’s revisit this in a year.” Just a firm refusal.
Chivu’s blueprint: Stankovic as Calhanoglu’s heir
The reason sits on the training pitches of Appiano Gentile. Cristian Chivu has a plan, and Stankovic is right at the heart of it.
All pre-season, the Romanian coach has been drilling a five-man midfield with defined roles and clear hierarchy. In that structure, Stankovic is being shaped as the primary deputy to Hakan Calhanoglu, the metronome at the base of Inter’s game.
Inter have tried to solve that particular problem before. Piotr Zielinski has been tested there, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has dropped in, even Nicolo Barella has been asked to orchestrate from deep. None of those experiments fully convinced. They could fill in, but not inhabit the role.
Stankovic does. Or at least, Chivu is betting heavily that he will.
The Serbian youth international brings exactly what that position demands: technical security under pressure, the calm to play through a press, and the tactical discipline to shield the defence without losing sight of the first pass forward. Around the training ground, the trust in him has been described as “unconditional.”
Keeping him is not just about sentiment or potential resale value. It’s about insurance. With a long season across multiple fronts, Chivu wants a like-for-like alternative to Calhanoglu, not a makeshift solution. Selling Stankovic now, even at €40 million, would rip a hole straight through that plan.
Curtis Jones on the radar, but traffic in midfield
That decision, though, has consequences higher up the depth chart.
Inter’s interest in Curtis Jones has not cooled. Chivu is an admirer of the Liverpool midfielder’s intensity, his ability to carry the ball, and his comfort in multiple roles across the middle of the pitch. Jones is seen as the kind of profile that can raise the level of the squad immediately.
But there is a problem: there is barely room to breathe in the centre of the pitch. With Stankovic staying, and with established names already jostling for minutes, Inter’s midfield looks more like a logjam than a department in need of reinforcements.
Any move for Jones would require exits. Not prospects, but significant ones. Until that puzzle is solved, admiration remains just that.
Romero, the missing piece at the back
If the midfield is crowded, the defence is where Inter want one last touch of elite quality. The name at the top of the list is Cristian Romero.
Inside the club, the Argentine is viewed as the final piece of the backline: aggression, personality, and Champions League-level experience wrapped into one. The kind of defender who doesn’t just play in big games, but bends them to his will.
Inter’s hierarchy has already pushed the deal a long way down the road. President Giuseppe Marotta and sporting director Piero Ausilio have done the heavy lifting with Tottenham Hotspur, with reports indicating an agreement on the transfer fee is in place. The most difficult part of many transfers is off the table.
The obstacle now is personal terms. Romero is asking for a salary in the region of €7 million net per season. That figure would place him above Benjamin Pavard, currently on around €5 million, and risk unsettling a wage structure Inter have fought hard to control.
For a club still mindful of every line on the balance sheet, that is not a trivial detail. It is the detail.
Talks have not collapsed, but they have slowed. Inter know what Romero wants. Romero knows what Inter are willing to stretch to. The gap is clear. Someone will have to move.
A window defined by patience and pressure
Across the board, Inter’s summer tells a consistent story. They are no longer a club that automatically cashes in on the first big offer for a young talent. The Stankovic-Brentford saga underlines that. At the same time, they are not shying away from going after heavyweight targets such as Jones and Romero.
That dual ambition comes at a cost. Holding firm on Stankovic limits the room to manoeuvre in midfield. Chasing Romero while respecting the internal pay scale forces delicate, drawn-out negotiations. And somewhere in the background, the numbers must still add up.
Strategic patience can steady a club. It can also compress all the real drama into the final weeks of the window, when creative accounting, late exits, and hard choices collide.
Inter have drawn their line with Stankovic. The next question is whether they are prepared to bend it for Romero – and what, or who, they will sacrifice if they do.
