With the departure of Onana and Handanovic bidding farewell from football, the former Bayern goalkeeper has become one of the Inter’s cornerstones this season. Thanks also to a suggestion…
“I know Sommer very well, and I’ve been following him for two years; the times I’ve faced him, he impressed me very positively,” said Gigi Buffon around this time in 2013. The Juventus goalkeeper had even recommended him to Marotta and Paratici (at that time, the Swiss goalkeeper was 24 years old with a long career ahead) to be his successor. Nothing came of it, but the esteem was fully reciprocated by Sommer (“I’m really happy about Buffon’s kind words. He has always been my role model, so I’m honored by his words”). At that time, Sommer could never have imagined facing Juventus in a Derby d’Italia, which will happen tomorrow night.
However, Sommer has proven to deserve that coronation from Super Gigi on the field, as evidenced by his previous encounters with Juventus in the Champions League when Yann played for Borussia Mönchengladbach. A bittersweet memory for Juventus fans: a 0-0 draw at the Stadium on October 21, 2015 (with Sommer making two excellent saves against Pogba), and the return leg in Germany on November 3 (a 1-1 draw with Lichtsteiner scoring, assisted by the Frenchman).
Sommer and his arrival at Inter
Despite being a sought-after around Europe during his time at Basel, Sommer settled in Mönchengladbach until January of last year when he moved to Bayern Munich to replace Neuer (a successful choice, considering he won the Bundesliga). After that, he made the switch to Inter, where he aims to achieve back-to-back League titles. The decision was also motivated by the desire to play a leading role in the European Championships, something that Neuer’s return to the field wouldn’t have guaranteed him.
Simone Inzaghi blessed the decision, solving the issue of replacing André Onana in the best possible way, as evidenced by the 10 clean sheets in 16 matches (between league and Champions League) kept by the Swiss goalkeeper. This positive outcome helps maintain optimism, even though Inter will be without two out of the three expected starting center-backs in Turin (Pavard and Bastoni, replaced by Darmian and De Vrij, with Acerbi shifting to the left center-back position).
