Inter Milan’s Simone Inzaghi named Serie A coach of the season

Simone Inzaghi, who led Inter Milan to the Italian title, has been voted Serie A coach of the season, the Italian League announced on Friday.

Inzaghi, 48, succeeded Luciano Spalletti, who took the honour at the helm of Napoli last season. A panel of sports publication directors chose the Inter manager for the award, said the league, which did not detail voting tallies.

“It could only be Simone Inzaghi,” Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo said in a statement.

“Inter have both the best attack and best defence and also went on a 28-game unbeaten run,” said the statement, adding that Inzhagi “has had his players continuously play an exciting brand of football while maintaining compactness and solidity”.

The award will be presented ahead of Inter’s last match of the season at Verona.

Going into Sunday’s final round, Inter holds a 19-point lead over second-placed AC Milan.

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Since Inzaghi took over at Inter in 2021 he has led the club to three Italian Supercups, two Italian Cups and, last season, the final of the Champions League.

While it went out in the round of 16 in both the Champions League and Italian Cup this season, Inter dominated Serie A with 29 wins, six draws and just two defeats.

Inter changed ownership on Wednesday, with US fund Oaktree taking over from Chinese group Suning, which was unable to repay a debt worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Oaktree said on Friday that it had taken control of 99.6 per cent of the club’s capital.

Inter’s fans also discovered on Friday that season ticket prices for matches at the San Siro next season would rise between 12 per cent and 23 per cent – a decision made before Oaktree’s takeover.