Inter begin pre-season training Preparation for the 2016-17 season has already begun. July has only just arrived but Inter’s summer holidays are already over. Seven weeks on from the match against Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium, Roberto Mancini and co. will officially start training ahead of the new season today. A lot of people are still missing for the moment – such as those who have only just finished international duty and need some holiday time – but they will all join up with the squad at various stages over the next fortnight. To start with there will be two days of preliminary training at Appiano Gentile, at which the half of the squad (plus some youngsters) will regroup and new – although still unofficial – signing Cristian Ansaldi will meet some of his new teammates, involving a series of tests that will ascertain what kind of state the players have returned to work in (hopefully a good one). After that the players will head into their training camp at Brunico that will last until 15 July, comprising two friendlies against WSG Wattens (9 July) and CSKA Sofia (14 July), where Mancini will speak to the media for the first time. After that they will head out to America for a two-week tour, at which point everyone should be present and correct, where we will take part in the prestigious International Champions Cup and play Real Salt Lake in an additional friendly. Let’s hope we fare better this time than we did last summer, when we lost all three games without even scoring a goal. It’s a mystery why any Chinese consortium would wish to take over the club after the pitiful impression we made on the pitch in China. Here’s the list of players present at Appiano Gentile today (Monday 4th July): Goalkeepers: Handanovic, Carrizo, Berni, Radu, Di Gennaro Defenders: Andreolli, Ansaldi*, Dodò, Ranocchia, Jesus, Santon, D’Ambrosio, Nagatomo, Yao, Della Giovanna, Miangue Midfielders: Kondogbia, Gnoukouri, Felipe Melo, Bessa Forwards: Palacio, Icardi, Jovetic, Biabiany, Pinamonti, Bakayoko *Ansaldi isn’t officially an Inter player yet due to a ongoing legal dispute between Genoa and Zenit, but the transfer isn’t at risk and Genoa have given Inter permission to start training with him. Let the fun begin… , via The Offside Inter Milan – All Posts http://ift.tt/29dtEuI