Ausilio: Arsenal demanded too much money for Mustafi

Inter director Piero Ausilio said the club did not pursue a deal for Shkodran Mustafi due to Arsenal’s financial demands.

Mustafi was linked with a move to Inter before transfer deadline day on Thursday, despite only joining Arsenal from Valencia last year.

Inter, however, opted against signing the Germany international defender because of Arsenal.

“The only negotiations we really entered into for a centre-back was Shkodran Mustafi, but when we saw his club’s demands, we let it go,” Ausilio said.

It was a productive transfer window for Inter, who brought in Matias Vecino, Milan Skriniar, Dalbert, Borja Valero, Joao Cancelo and Yann Karamoh.

Inter also managed to keep star winger Ivan Perisic, despite reported interest from Manchester United.

“Keeping hold of Ivan Perisic was a great buy, really,” Ausilio added.

He continued: “We are convinced that we signed players who are suited to the project, as Inter have proved they are ready for the start of the season.

“Many players arrived, others have left, the squad is homogenous. We liked the idea of focusing on youngsters, including with investments like Yann Karamoh.

“We decided to do something simple, because just making changes for the sake of it was not of interest, so when we saw that certain objectives were unattainable.

“There are no regrets, we did things that were functional to the project and compatible with our circumstances. We signed midfielders, we brought in Karamoh and another interesting young players like Skriniar, who is performing well.”