Inter will be without midfielder Curtis Jones for the next few weeks due to an adductor injury, but Cristian Chivu has three or four different options to replace the Englishman ahead of Sunday’s visit from Parma in Serie A.
How Inter plan to replace Jones against Parma
According to Thursday’s reports, Jones reported for medical tests on Thursday morning and has been diagnosed with an adductor injury that is likely to keep him sidelined for three to four weeks.
The 25-year-old, who arrived at a cost of €35m from Liverpool during the summer transfer window, earned his first start for the Nerazzurri in a Champions League defeat away against Real Madrid in September.
He also started in Inter’s most recent match before the international break, a 2-2 draw away against Roma, along with Nicolo Barella and Piotr Zielinski, the latter starting in the absence of Hakan Calhanoglu.
Assuming that Chivu starts with Barella and Calhanoglu in his midfield to face Parma in Serie A this weekend, he still has a choice of Zielinski, Petar Sucic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aleksandar Stankovic to replace the injured Jones.
According to reports from La Gazzetta dello Sport, Croatia international Sucic is the emerging favourite to replace Jones when Inter take on Parma on Sunday evening.
There is a feeling that Sucic will be fresh to start given that he came off the bench in Croatia’s final game of the international break, while Zielinski started all four of Poland’s games this break and played the full 90 minutes on Monday night.
La Gazzetta dello Sport suggests that Mkhitaryan is next in the pecking order to start against Parma, but that there will ‘surely’ be opportunities for Stankovic during Jones’s absence as well.
