Spalletti, Icardi, Joao Mario, Handanovic, Candreva news conference

NANJING – Inter held their first press conference since arriving in China at Jiangsu Suning FC training centre on Thursday morning, with Luciano Spalletti accompanied by captain Mauro Icardi, Joao Mario, Samir Handanovic and Antonio Candreva.  

"First of all, we want to thank everyone for the hospitality we've been given at this training ground and in Nanjing generally,” the coach began.

“I know it's not easy to reproduce Inter's past glories, which is of course what the club and our millions of fans want to see. But we're all here – myself, the coaching staff and the players – working to achieve just that.

“Our objective on this tour is to learn and understand how we want to play together. We're working on the mechanisms that will make our team tick.”

Mauro Icardi spoke about Suning's ambitions and his own recovery from injury.

“We've known Suning for a year now and they make their intentions clear to us whenever they visit us in Italy. This summer we've been able to come here to Nanjing and we've seen their headquarters, which makes the quality of their work even clearer.

“I don't know if I'll be able to play in China or whether it will be in August. We'll assess the situation on a day-to-day basis with the coach and medical staff.”

Joao Mario explained how keen the Nerazzurri are to do well for the fans.

"We have loads of supporters here in China and we want to prepare properly for games so that we can perform well for them.”

Samir Handanovic also praised the level of involvement of the local fans as well the organisation in China and mentioned the benefits of playing against other big clubs.

“Inter have fans all over the world and we feel their support wherever we go. We've been to China before and we've always seen lots and lots of fans – hopefully they'll get behind us again this time too.

“The organisation here is flawless – we have everything we could need. Playing against top-level opposition will help us understand which areas we need to work on most to improve.”

Finally, Antonio Candreva spoke enthusiastically about the coming campaign and the cultural opportunities provided by the tour.

“We're here to get ready for a new season and we want to make up for a disappointing campaign last time out. This is an important tour for us to start working our way back to the top.

“It's an interesting trip for many reasons and we'll be able to learn more about Chinese culture.”