Three Englishman, One Inter and Why Now is the Time to Visit San Siro

Throughout their history, Inter Milan have had dalliances with various nationalities. There is the legendary period of the Tre Tedeschi (Three Germans) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Jurgen Klinsmann, Andreas Breheme and Lothar Matthaus represented the Nerazzurri and were a direct response to AC Milan’s three Dutchmen, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard.

Inter themselves pivoted to a Dutch approach in 1993 by signing Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk in a double deal from Ajax, with the promise of enterprising football.

At the beginning of the 2000s they went all in on Turkey with Hakan Sukur, Emre Belozoglu and Okan Buruk playing for the club within a two-year span, and Inter has always been a safe haven for Argentines down the years: from Daniel Passarella to Javier Zanetti and Diego Simeone, and from Hernan Crespo to Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Samuel and so many others. Today, Lautaro Martinez is club captain. 

Englishmen have never really played a major role in Inter’s history. Gerry Hitchens was the first to wear the jersey in the early 1960s, and then there was a massive gap until Paul Ince swapped Manchester for Milan in the summer of 1995 after falling out of favour with Sir Alex Ferguson. 

Ince’s tenure in Italy was short but successful: 73 games, 13 goals and a UEFA Cup final appearance all bundled into two seasons in Serie A. He begrudgingly left the club due to family reasons and admitted to loving his time in Italy, getting emotional about it in one interview years later.

After his departure in the summer of 1997, an Englishman wouldn’t wear the Inter shirt until they unexpectedly signed an ageing Ashley Young in the second half of the 2019-20 season. In fact, once Ince left, no English player – bar the exception of a brief interlude from Jay Bothroyd at Perugia – stepped foot in Serie A until David Beckham in early 2009. 

And yet with the arrival of Curtis Jones from Liverpool, Inter have signed the same number of English players in one summer than have played for the club in its 118-year history. Jones, who signed for around €35m, joins John Stones and Djed Spence in swapping the Premier League for Serie A this summer.

Stones was the first to sign, having been released from Manchester City at the end of his contract, while Spence has been brought in from Tottenham as a replacement for Denzel Dumfries.

The trio join what is already the strongest squad in the league and will make the Nerazzurri heavy favourites to retain their Scudetto, a feat that hasn’t been achieved since Juventus in 2020.

The presence of the three Englishman will no doubt make Milan a weekend travel destination for many from the UK. Milan is and always has been a marquee city for football, with two clubs that are considered European royalty.

In truth, there is no better time to start thinking about a San Siro trip. Following last season’s success and a good summer, they are playing with a target on their back, under an exciting young manager in Cristian Chivu, who is in charge of a club going through a transitional phase.

Established stars such as Martinez, Marcus Thuram and Federico Dimarco are still there, and will help the new recruits and younger players find their feet. Young striker Francesco Pio Esposito has another big season ahead of him – for Inter and Italy – and scored in the opening-day win over Monza.

As for their challengers, Roma appear to be on the rise again, Como keep climbing, Napoli have Max Allegri in the dugout, while Milan and Juventus must find a way back into the top four.

So, this is an exciting time to think about tuning in. Inter had an average attendance of just over 73,000 last term, second only to Milan, but you can still get tickets. They are accessible and reasonable – for the upcoming clash with Napoli at the start of September, there were tickets available a week before, from €26 in the top deck… cheaper than most Premier League teams.

The irony isn’t lost that out of the two Milanese clubs, AC Milan has always been the more ‘English’ one. While Inter were founded by international expats living in Milan who disagreed over AC Milan refusing to bus foreign talent and broke away to form a new club, hence the name Internazionale, the Rossoneri were founded by Herbert Kilpin and Alfred Edwards, who were born in Nottingham and Shropshire respectively.

AC Milan’s roots were so English, in fact, they were initially set up as the Milan Football and Cricket Club and have St. George’s flag in the badge. Moreover, the club kept the Anglo version of its name throughout its history, staying with ‘Milan’ at the expense of ‘Milano’. On occasion, the club’s shirts have paid homage to their English roots such as their centenary shirt in 1999-00, now considered a collectors’ item.

Down the years Milan have also dipped into the English market more than their city cousins. The legendary Jimmy Greaves was the first in 1961, then a 20-year break due to the ban on foreign players imposed by the FIGC. When that was lifted, Milan signed Luther Blissett, Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley all within a 12-month period.

In recent years they have signed Tammy Abraham and Kyle Walker on loan, while Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Omari Hutchinson are on the AC Milan books now. Inter signing Stones, Jones and Spence means there are six Englishmen playing in the city.

For Inter, Ince and Young were deemed successes. Will the same be said for their new trio? Time will be the ultimate judge.