The sporting director leaves the Nerazzurri club after negotiations for a contract extension failed (it expired in 2027). Now Marotta and Oaktree have to decide: internal solution or change model?
After a life spent between Interello, Appiano Gentile and the various locations, Piero Ausilio’s story at Inter comes to an end. There will be no contract renewal beyond the deadline of 30 June 2027 and the separation is immediate, with contract termination signed after the summer transfer market session has just concluded. Neither party had the desire or interest in living together for an entire season knowing they had no future. Technically, it was the manager who caused the rift by rejecting the hypothesis of an extension – with a salary increase – until 2028. The reality is that the signs of fraying had already been visible for a few months, leading to a negotiation that gradually stalled for the extension of the relationship.
In his place Dario Baccin, trusted inside man immediately promoted to Chief Sport Officer. Internal solution, at least one of continuity after the shock of the separation from the historic manager. With a trait that unites this to other previous choices in the name of valorising internal paths: Marotta promoted to president (and partner), Chivu placed on the bench after having exhausted his career in the youth team and now Baccin.
Marotta’s words: “Dario knows the Club well and is now ready to take on this new role that the Owners and I have designed for him. It is an innovative choice, whilst maintaining management continuity” – concluded Marotta –Dario has been a fundamental part of the technical area for many years and is the manager who worked on the creation of the Under 23 in close collaboration with the First Team with a view to progressive and sustainable development of the Club”.
The background to divorce
Ausilio was aiming for a long-term agreement, three years in any form. The offer was annual. Having received the unavailability to accept these conditions, Inter closed the communication channel. All very quickly, at least in its final evolution. Who decided? Not necessarily the Oaktree fund with its managers who certainly did not have the Ausilio issue as a priority over the summer. The now former sporting director, however, also found himself dealing with the position of president Beppe Marotta who evidently expected to be different and closer than it has been.
Ausilio’s career at Inter
Having joined the club in 1998, climbed the ranks of the sports management hierarchy from within, survived the transition from the Moratti family to the Indonesian tycoon Erik Thohir and from the latter to Suning, and then found himself working with the managers of the Californian Oaktree fund, Piero Ausilio has become one of the familiar faces to the Nerazzurri people.
Therefore, after a long season of stability, Inter changes. A move that entails opportunities and risks, because Ausilio has become one of the best sporting directors in Italian football (in a historical period in which the figure is scarce) and a large part of the team that collects trophies today was born from his intuitions. His was the journey to snatch Lautaro Martinez from Atletico Madrid, who was convinced that they had secured the striker recommended by Milito, his was the stubbornness to decide on Marcus Thuram and make him play as a striker and not as a winger. His bet on Alessandro Bastoni, a young Atalanta player signed before it exploded, or the investment on Nicolò Barella at the beginning of the Suning era. And then Onana, the return journey of Romelu Lukaku, until the final betrayal, the series of right-wingers from the Cancelo-Hakimi-Dumfries cover and, in difficult moments, the prudence in choosing zero parameters or in managing the seasons in which to make ends meet Inter had to self-sustain through the valorisation of young people and the best profiles.
Of course, Ausilio also made mistakes like all sports directors working for two decades on the front line. It is difficult, however, to argue that the balance between things done well and things done badly tips in favor of the latter. Becoming operational after the 2010 treble, a point of reference once Marco Branca was bid farewell, it was the long hand that allowed the club to live with the restrictions and constraints of UEFA and then to invest (well, in this case) when the economic conditions changed at the time of Suning’s landing.
His palmarès from 2014 to today is three championships and as many Italian Cups and Italian Super Cups. Plus two Champions League finals which are a rare commodity in a historical era of weakness in our football, and a Europa League final. All lost, but for those who signed the project, having achieved it is almost more important than the result. This is what Inter leaves.
Ausilio’s greeting message
After 28 unforgettable years, the most difficult moment has arrived: saying goodbye to what for me has never been a simple team, but a second skin. In almost three decades I have given Inter every single second of my life, every energy, every heartbeat.
Inter is in my blood, it’s the air I breathed every day. My deepest and most heartfelt thanks go to you fans, the beating soul of this shirt, who accompanied and supported me on this infinite journey.
Thanks to all the owners, managers and collaborators who have placed their trust in me over the years, giving me the honor of leading the sports area of this giant of world football. And thanks to all the coaches, players, immense champions and real men, who with their talent and their sweat have raised trophies to the sky that will forever remain engraved in the history of this club, like the Second Nerazzurri Star.
I leave this role, but I will never be able to detach myself from these colors. Today not only is a professional chapter closing: a piece of my soul is separating from what I loved most.
Thanks Inter
