‘He can’t do it’: Reported Tottenham target up for sale after ‘disappointing’ derby display

Follow us on Google Discover

There is truth in the old adage that football games are won and lost in the middle of the park.

While the familiar face of Zlatan Ibrahimovic was adorning every headline on Sunday morning after another match-winning display from the evergreen superstar, AC Milan can trace their first ‘away’ win over bitter rivals Inter in a decade to their triumph in the midfield battleground.

While Franck Kessie, Ismael Bennacer and Hakan Calhanoglu dominated the proceedings at San Siro, Antonio Conte failed to get a tune out of his own conductor.

Marcelo Brozovic was the very definition of ‘anonymous’, drifting through the game without any of the probing through-balls or slaloming bursts that had become his trademark in blue and black.

“Brozovic is not a director and he cannot do it. Inter need an important player in that role,” the legendary Marco Tardelli said after the game, as reported by Inter News.

“Brozovic was disappointing,” added Aldo Serena, a man who played on both sides of the Milan divide, told Gazzetta dello Sport, via SempreInter

The Croatian international’s future at the San Siro was already in some doubt before the first Milan derby of 2020/21.

And the sight of Brozovic being given the runaround by Stefano Piolo’s hungry young side did little to dispel the nagging notion that he cannot be a key cog in Conte’s revolution.

Calciomercato report that, with Tottenham and Monaco interested, Inter have made their long-serving enforcer available for transfer heading towards the January transfer window.

It is almost a year to the day since Conte, while speaking to Goal, suggested that Brozovic had everything in his power to become a ‘world class’ midfielder if he smoothed out those rough edges.

12 months on, he looks further from the elite than ever before.