Inter president Giuseppe Marotta believes that Arsenal and Chelsea are the examples all Italian teams should follow when recruiting young players. 

Marotta's comments came ahead of their Coppa Italia quarter-final with Torino on Wednesday, with the club going into the game off the back of a 2-0 win over Cremonese.

The Nerazzurri are top of Serie A and face Bodo/Glimt in the play-off round of the Champions League, and they have done so with a more experienced squad than most. 

Indeed, in Serie A, the average age of Cristian Chivu's side is 27.8 years old, with only Napoli and Lazio (both 28.2) fielding older starting line-ups on a regular basis. 

But when compared to Arsenal and Chelsea, both of whom have reached the last 16 of the Champions League, the average age of their sides is 23.4 and 25.6, respectively. 

Since being taken over by BlueCo in 2022, Chelsea's transfer policy has been to scout young talent. In fact, during the last summer transfer window, the Blues' oldest arrival was then-23-year-old Joao Pedro.

"The Blues have recently made changes; Arsenal had been doing it for some time," Marotta said via TMW.

"At some point, the Gunners put their money into the stadium and not on the market, and it worked.

"Having this inclination towards young players is a concept of great sustainability, which all Italian clubs are forced to follow."

Marotta also discussed the plans surrounding the demolition of San Siro, which was confirmed back in November of last year. 

Inter have shared the iconic stadium with rivals AC Milan since 1947, and paid €197m (£173m) to the city council to take control of the structure and surrounding land. 

The new arena will be built near the existing stadium, with hopes it will be ready by 2030, just before the 2032 Euros, which is set to be co-hosted by Italy and Turkiye.

And while the new stadium will have a capacity roughly 4,000 fewer than the current San Siro, Marotta believes the new investment will see the clubs close the gap financially between the wealthiest in Europe. 

"We earn €80m per season, same as Milan. Real Madrid and Barcelona reach between €250m and €300m," Marotta noted.

"The Blancos' target is to go beyond €500m. We can more than double matchday revenue, also with activities made during the week."