Chivu, a wildcard called Zalewski: he's ready to return to the attacking midfield.

Inter's squad includes a shadowy attacking midfielder who's been little talked about, overshadowed by the Lookman affair. He grew up on a ramshackle pitch in the province of Rome. "My style of football is street football; if I'm playing in Serie A today, it's also thanks to those moments." Nicola Zalewski explained this to Corriere della Sera this summer. Before establishing himself as a full-back, he was the number ten in Roma's Primavera team. He first learned to dribble and then to chase down a man in defense, as a full-back, the role the Conference gave him. With Chivu, he could reclaim his old life.

Zalewski ended the season with Inzaghi as an attacking midfielder and started it more or less the same way, starting against Urawa in that position in the second match of the Club World Cup. Not well, though: Chivu replaced him at halftime after a five-star performance. He'll have a chance to make up for it. Preface: the Polish player, born in Italy and raised near Tivoli, in the province of Rome, started out as a number ten and developed as a left winger. Inter signed him in January as Dimarco's assistant and subsequently bought him for €6.5 million. A deal in line with Oaktree's new policy of scouting for young, promising talents. Born in 2002, Zalewski is 23 years old, has 29 caps and three goals for the Polish national team, and has appeared in three European finals between Roma and Inter: the Conference (as a starter), the Europa League (as a substitute), and the Champions League, where he came on as a second-half substitute for Dimarco. One win and two losses. He's always played as an attacking midfielder for the Primavera, Under-17, and youth national teams, but if he plays as a winger, it's thanks to Mourinho. "He showed me a role I didn't think I could play."

Zalewski is a wild card. For Chivu's Inter, he could play as a winger in a four-man midfield in a 3-4-2-1, as a winger in a 3-5-2, or as a left-footed attacking midfielder in a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2, pairing up with Thuram , Bonny, and maybe even Lookman. In other words, four possible solutions. He finished the season with 23 appearances and one goal in the league between Inter and Roma. Against Torino, he blasted past Milinkovic-Savic with a curling right-footed strike after a fine dribble. Statistics show he averaged 2.9 touches inside the opposition penalty area per game. Among the players who played more or less like him, only seven performed better: Vecino, Baldanzi, Livramento, Chukwueze, Brescianini, Noslin, and Sottil. But none of them played a full season as a winger with defensive duties. Also noteworthy is the number of progressive passes, those that significantly advance the ball toward the opponent's goal. Zalewski averages 3.4 per game. That's a significant number considering the minutes he's played. This is thanks to a past that's ready to knock on his door again. Nicola is ready to open the door.