Galatasaray called. Benfica called. He ignored both.
One goal and three assists in 37 games at Marseille is not the kind of loan that gets you welcomed back anywhere. When Benjamin Pavard returned to Milan this summer, Inter were shopping for Cristian Romero and the exit was standing wide open.
He never said a word publicly. He turned up for pre-season and played, and the 1-1 against Manchester City, where he scored and walked off as man of the match, quietly rearranged everyone’s thinking.
Romero ended up at Atletico Madrid. Pavard is still here, under contract until 2028.
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Chivu has picked a side
Cristian Chivu was asked about him on Friday, ahead of Napoli.
“I can only speak about Benji from what I have experienced with him. I can’t comment on what happened elsewhere. Now he is back as a player who has made himself available to the group. He has had a very good pre-season, has shown his quality and wants to be here and share our ambitions.”
The Italian press has fallen in behind that. La Gazzetta dello Sport called it a “fresh start for Benjamin, known as Benji”, describing a defender with “the honours of a top-level defender, the experience of a 30-year-old, as well as the mindset of a young prospect”. A few weeks back the same pages were noting his form was returning and his attitude was “spotless”.
Saturday at 18h decides more than pre-season did
The competitive evidence is thin so far. A substitute appearance against Monza on the opening weekend (4-1), then the full ninety at Cagliari (0-1). No shirt is nailed down.
Inter host Napoli on Saturday evening, the match every Italian fan circled the day the fixtures dropped. Centre-backs get judged on nights like that inside forty-five minutes, not across three months of friendlies. Two months ago nobody in Milan expected to see him lining up in nerazzurri for it.
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