For a club whose made some astonishing choices in the transfer market down the years, this was one of the most difficult ones.

It’s the summer of 2021 and Inter Milan announce the departure of Moroccan right-back Achraf Hakimi to Paris-Saint Germain. 

Hakimi had only been there for a year but Inter, like all clubs at the time, were beginning to feel the crippling effects of the pandemic and over a year without fans in stadiums.

They posted a single season loss of €246m for 2020-21, a truly staggering figure.

Suning, Inter’s Chinese owners, had haemorrhaged losses during Covid and were forbidden by the Chinese state of putting any more money into the club.

Despite winning the Scudetto for the first time in a decade that May, the end result was selling one of their most highly-prized ornaments to keep the wolves from the door.

Hakimi was sold alongside Romelu Lukaku, but it was the departure of the former that hit hardest.

“We are going through a difficult and in some ways disturbing time after the pandemic, also as a result of the world economy,” confessed Inter general manager Beppe Marotta at the time. “As a reflection, football is now looking for a sustainable model.

“We made painful choices like the one of selling Hakimi but always trying to give continuity.”

Five weeks later, part of the continuity Marotta alluded to was the signing of Denzel Dumfries.

Bought from PSV Eindhoven, Dumfries had been one of the Netherlands’ best performers at Euro 2020 that summer. 

Signing Dumfries for just under €15m Marotta had, in the way Marotta does, demonstrated why he has been one of the best sporting directors in Italy over the past two decades.

Filling Hakimi’s shoes was never going to be an easy task for Dumfries. Despite only staying in Italy for a year, the Moroccan was one of the stars of the 2021 Scudetto-winning side, scoring seven goals and providing 10 assists.

His departure was one of the main factors in Antonio Conte walking out of the club weeks after the title win.

Fast forward nearly four years later, and Hakimi is nothing more than a distant memory to Nerazzurri fans.

Inter’s history with Dutch players is a little complex. For every Wesley Sneijder, Clarence Seedorf and Aron Winter, there’s Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Wim Jonk and Andy van der Meyde. 

Dumfries became the 11th Dutchman to wear Inter colours, and admitted to speaking to one of the more successful ones, Stefan de Vrij, before moving to Italy.

And he’s not looked back. 

A notch slower than the blistering Hakimi but arguably more physical and an aerial threat at both ends of the pitch, Dumfries has been one of Marotta’s best buys.

Yet stylistically Dumfries and Hakimi share similar traits: both are capable of marauding up and down the right side and both possess a penchant for scoring goals.

Hakimi is not, however, named after a Hollywood actor. 

Dumfries is, of course, gloriously named after two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington. 

Washington won Oscars for roles in 1989’s Glory and Training Day in 2001, but Dumfries was coy on stating his favourite.

“I really like all of his films and of course I’ve seen them all,” he said in a 2022 interview. “He’s one of the most talented actors of his generation and I’m a huge fan.”

Against Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday night, Dumfries channelled his inner Robert McCall from Washington’s The Equalizer series, as he set about trying to dismantle the Spanish side single handedly.

Marcus Thuram had given Inter the lead inside 35 seconds with the deftest of back-heels, converting Dumfries’ cross to silence the Catalan crowd. 

Dumfries doubled the advantage 20 minutes later with a spectacular bicycle kick from a corner after Francesco Acerbi headed the ball in his direction. 

This one was not even his first bicycle kick of the season, with the 29-year-old scoring one against Atalanta in the Supercoppa Italiana.

“Goals are in his blood,” said Simone Inzaghi after the game in Riyadh. 

Such has been his thirst for goals this season that Dumfries is Inter’s third-highest scorer after Lautaro Martinez and Thuram.

Barca pulled themselves back into the game via the exquisite feet of Lamine Yamal, and it looked like Inzaghi’s men would not survive the never-ending onslaught from the home side.

Yet Dumfries wasn’t finished causing chaos. 

Hakan Calhanoglu’s cracker of a corner was powered home by the right-back as he towered over several Barca players. 

Two goals and an assist, not a bad evening’s work.

Dumfries’ first goal for La Beneamata was a header in a 3-0 win at Roma in April 2022.

Since then, he has nabbed 20 more in all competitions but the first remains his favourite.

His brace in the hills of Barcelona takes Dumfries’ season tally into double figures, and La Gazzetta dello Sport was full of praise for the full-back, handing him a 8.5/10.

Federico Dimarco has for many morphed into Europe’s best left wing-back, yet there has been a level of under-appreciation for the man on the other side of the Inter back line.

Not as dynamic as Dimarco and lacking a foot as devastating, Dumfries has been viewed as defensively liable at times which, especially in Italy, amounts to the most cardinal of sins.

Yet you do not make close to 200 appearances for Inter in under four years if you are not a somewhat reliable performer.

With Dumfries, the positives outweigh the negatives, and his performance at Barca was a reminder of what he brings. 

He’s not the Dutch Cafu, but the man named after Hollywood royalty has made Interisti forget all about Hakimi.