Luciano Spalletti Explains Why Ivan Perisic Was Left Out of Inter Squad During Defeat to Torino

Luciano Spalletti has explained his reasoning for the omission of Ivan Perisic from the Inter squad that was defeated 1-0 by Torino on Sunday evening, claiming he was 'indisposed' yet hinting that the winger had asked to leave the club.

Armando Izzo's first-half header proved to be the difference between the two sides, leaving Inter with just one point from their opening two Serie A games in 2019.

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The match was overshadowed by the news that Inter had rejected a loan bid from Arsenal for Perisic and that the Croatian had subsequently handed in a transfer request.

Speaking after the defeat to Torino, Spalletti suggested that if a player wants to leave the San Siro, then there is no reason for him to be selected to play for the Nerazurri.

"It’s quite simple. Players can say what they want, but they are employees, they have signed contracts and in order to leave, they need someone willing to pay for them,” he told Sky Sport Italia, as per Football Italia.

“You can’t leave for free and with your salary paid by someone else. If, as Marotta said, he doesn’t want to play, then clearly he’ll be left out. That’s not a problem for me. Someone who cannot contribute to the team has to stay out."

Spalletti also went on to explain the tactical decisions he was forced to make in the absence of Perisic.

“I changed the wingers with two strikers, because I didn’t have many wingers at my disposal," he added. "Perisic is indisposed, we risked Matteo Politano at the end because he wasn’t well, while Keita is out.

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“We made a different choice, based on physicality and not losing individual duels, so we could create chances for the front two. 

“Now we’ve got to get the team back in order based on the tactical principles we had. We need everyone to do their job, because we were too sluggish in the tackles.”