(Football news) Inter Milan have signed Empoli midfielder Kristjan Asllani for €14m, with Martin Satriano to join Empoli on loan as his replacement. Inter are initially going to sign Asllani on a loan deal worth €4m with the obligation to buy him for a further €10m. Asllani will pen a contract to June 2027. Last season he made 23 Serie A appearances for Empoli, scoring one goal and providing one assist. Asllani will mostly arrive at Inter as cover for Marcelo Brozovic.

Asllani burst onto the scene at Empoli last season, tallying 23 appearances with 14 starts, playing 1,346 minutes in Serie A and notching a goal against Inter and an assist in his first-ever campaign at the professional level. It took the 20-year-old a while to adapt to the league when he made just 6 appearances in Empoli’s first 20 games but once he got a chance in the lineup he was undroppable. Asllani played in all of the side’s final 18 games and got an international debut for the Albanian national team. He performed exceptionally well as a defensive midfielder and now looks like not only the perfect Brozovic back-up but also quite capable of filling in anywhere across anywhere in the midfield.

Though €14 million might seem like a lot for a player who has had only one top-flight season under his belt, it is a signing for the future for Inter. The Nerazzurri desperately needed depth in midfield and preferentially young back-ups, so Asllani ticked a number of boxes. It is also going to be fun watching him grow into a potential star over the next few seasons, especially learning from the best defensive midfielder in the league in Marcelo Brozovic. Kristjan has excellent ball control skills that caught the attention of his youth team coaches in Empoli. He is also an ambidextrous player who even in his early days has wowed onlookers when he used both his left and right foot to take corners from both sides of the pitch. 

Kristjan already made his much awaited first team debut in January 2021 against Napoli in the Coppa Italia. He started the season with Primavera, where he scored three goals in the Youth League and later made the leap to the first team for good as coach Aurelio Andreazzoli placed great faith in the dynamic Albanian. His second start for Empoli came in the Coppa Italia against Inter where he registered his first assist when he assisted Nedim Bajrami. He later on went on to became the centerpiece of the midfield for the Tuscans and subsequently scored his first Serie A goal at the San Siro against Inter. Asallani now becomes the second Albanian player in history to represent the Nerazzurri, after Rey Manaj. Despite his tender age, Kristjan has already made his debut for the Albanian national team and is looking forward to making his mark on his new club.

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