Materazzi waves at Inter fans at San Siro (GETTY)

Marco Materazzi feels that Cristian Chivu is ‘the perfect man’ to lead Inter and blasts Simone Inzaghi. ‘We threw away two Serie A titles with the strongest squad in the league.’

The Nerazzurri had been eager to continue with Inzaghi after ending the season empty-handed, including a 5-0 Coppa Campioni Final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

However, he preferred to walk away and take over at Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League, so former defender Chivu has been drafted in as his replacement.

“I have no doubts, Chivu is the perfect man for Inter,” Materazzi told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Materazzi was teammates with Chivu in the Inter squad that won the Treble under Jose Mourinho in 2010, but following retirement, the Romanian went into management at the Nerazzurri youth academy.

“He waited for the right moment to grasp his dream job with both hands. He had several offers over the years, including when he was at the youth team, but he had the intelligence to wait for the best opportunity.

“Who better than him, an Interista who won the Coppa Campioni, to shake up the team after such a heavy defeat? What they need now is some good old-fashioned Interism.”

Materazzi has mixed view of Inzaghi’s Inter era

World Cup winner Materazzi was one of several former Inter players in the stands for the Coppa Campioni Final.

“I stayed in my seat to the end in order to pay tribute to the players and all those who took us to a second Final in three years. I would never have walked out,” he assured of the 5-0 defeat.

It was one of the catalysts for Inzaghi to depart, and now his four-year tenure is being re-evaluated.

“I will only say two things. The first is that Simone should be thanked for all he did in those four years, the 20^th Scudetto and for getting the team to play in a certain way, but it is also true that he could’ve done more. We threw away two Serie A titles with the strongest squad in the league.”

Now that Inzaghi is gone, Chivu will start from Monday and prepare for the Club World Cup, where Materazzi hopes he can relaunch some players.

“Davide Frattesi has 8-10 goals in him, he took us to the Coppa Campioni Final scoring against Bayern Munich and Barcelona, so there are few out there like him. Chivu can get the best out of Frattesi.

“I think with one or two smart choices for new players, Inter can win again. Just look at what Napoli did with Scott McTominay, who is my son’s idol. They were crazy at Manchester United to let him leave like that.”

Materazzi has an anecdote to explain the kind of attitude that Chivu can bring out of the Inter players.

“Cristian has such heart, I still remember when we ‘thumped’ Goran Pandev in the Coppa Italia semi-final with Lazio. There were so many second choice players, we were two left-footed figures together in central defence… Goran got beaten up. We had a lot of fun that day.”