Mancini backs Kondogbia to come good at Inter

Roberto Mancini has backed Geoffrey Kondogbia to come good at Inter after a difficult start and develop into a key figure at San Siro.

The France international joined Inter from Monaco at the start of the 2015-16 campaign for a transfer fee believed to be in the region of €30million, but has so far been unable to live up to the high expectations.

Kondogbia has made just 14 starts in Serie A and has received his fair share of criticism for his underwhelming performances.

Nevertheless, Mancini believes it is a matter of time before the 22-year-old starts delivering.

“It’s hard for a young player to come in and adapt to Serie A immediately,” the Inter coach said at a news conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Verona.

“Geoffrey’s very young and has huge potential for improvement.”

Mancini also had words of encouragement for Mauro Icardi following the Argentine’s difficult 2015-16 campaign

The striker was Serie A’s joint top scorer last term, but has been struggling to replicate that form in 2015-16. He missed a crucial penalty in Inter’s 3-0 loss at the hands of AC Milan last week, but Mancini is adamant he is happy with the former Barcelona youngster.

“Mauro is still young so he has huge margin for growth,” he added.

“I’m happy with him.

“We have six strikers and we can only play three or four in one go but they’re all working well.”