Inter Eyeing Betis Defender Aissa Mandi to Add Depth to the Backline

Inter are considering making a cheap addition to the back-line and are keeping tabs on Aissa Mandi. The center-back will meet with Betis Sevilla next week but is expected to tell the club that he will not extend his expiring contract. According to Estadio Deportivo and Le Buteur, the Nerazzurri have offered him a four-year deal worth €2M per season and are nearing an agreement. Olympique Lyon are also after the player.

Mandi grew up at Reims and transferred to Spain in 2016. He has accumulated 169 appearances with Los Verderones, scoring 8 times. He has logged 60 caps with Algeria, winning the African Cup of Nations in 2019.

Inter are likely to move on from Aleksandar Kolarov in the summer. Andrea Ranocchia and Danilo D’Ambrosio also have just two months left on their pacts, but they might end up re-upping late with the Beneamata. They have also been linked to Napoli’s Nikola Maksimovic, but Lazio are currently leading the race for the Serbia defender as they proposed a lengthy contract, Tuttomercatoweb reports.

Even though Milan Skriniar, Alessandro Bastoni and especially Stefan De Vrij have drawn interest from multiple European top teams, the Nerazzurri plan to hold onto all their starters. They will try to lock up the Dutch specialist long-term this summer as his deal expires in 2022, Calciomercato.com reports. In early December, his agent Mino Raiola stated: “We have a verbal agreement with the club, now we are writing it down.” He is poised to get a three-year renewal with €5M annual wages.