Inter Milan midfielder Joao Mario has advised Portugal teammate Renato Sanches to join bitter rivals AC Milan from Bayern Munich this summer, the former Sporting man told reporters on Sunday.

Inter defeated Bayern 2-0 in a July 27 friendly at Singapore's national stadium, and afterward Joao Mario told Gazzetta dello Sport he gave some advice to the 19-year-old ex-Benfica man who is reportedly nearing a loan move to the Rossoneri.

"We talked on Thursday, after the game," Joao Mario said. "He is young and he wants to play, I understand that.

"I told him that if he goes to AC Milan he'd join a big club and I'd have one more friend in Milan."

While Inter won all three of their International Champions Cup games in Asia this summer, the Portugal international cautioned that any talk of a Serie A title for Luciano Spalletti's side is premature at this point.

"It makes no sense to talk about the Serie A title," he said. "Juventus are the favourite team, followed by Roma and Napoli.

"They've been together for the last few years and they know each other very well. Then there is AC Milan. We want to win the Coppa Italia and qualify for the Champions League. A team like Inter must play in the Champions League every year."

An attacking midfielder, the 24-year-old scored just three goals in 33 games over all competitions last season.

He's pointed to Roma dynamo Radja Nainggolan and Napoli captain Marek Hamsik as examples to follow for the upcoming campaign.

"Nainggolan and Hamsik are my role models," he said. "They create many goal chances, they score lot of goals and I have to improve in front of goal.

"I hope I will go the extra mile with Spalletti, many midfielders have really improved after working with him, I hope the same will happen with me."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by ESPN STAFF

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