Inter Milan director Piero Ausilio said Croatian winger Ivan Perisic did not ask for, nor received a release clause in his newly-minted contract.

Perisic was the center of a majority of Inter Milan’s mercato drama during the summer as Manchester United and former Inter boss Jose Mourinho made Perisic a top target this summer, but those efforts were thwarted by what we can only assume is Luciano Spalletti’s insistence that Perisic is part of his future plan with the Nerazzurri.

Ausilio told Mediaset Premium that the club persuaded Perisic to stay “with their ambition for the future.”

"Nobody ever denied that this offer arrived from Manchester United, but we have been working to convince him to stay at Inter and that our project could be just as successful as Manchester,” Ausilio said. “The new contract was a consequence of that and only right. There is no release clause because we did not intend to propose one, nor was it requested by his entourage.”

The terms of Perisic’s contract is for €4.5 million a season and runs through 2022. That makes his contract nearly equal to that of Mauro Icardi’s €4.5 million contract per season through 2021. However, media reports are that Inter is upping Icardi’s contract to €6 million per season with a €150 million buy-out clause each June.

The question is does the lack of a buy-out clause mean Perisic is serious about staying around for a while.

Presumably, yes, but during the silly seasons anything, and we mean anything, is possible.

Mourinho made a serious play for Perisic, presumably even reaching a deal with the Croatian and attempting to take advantage of Inter’s burden of Financial Fair Play before the end of June to low-ball the team into selling.

However, kudos have to be given to Inter management — namely Ausilio and Spalletti — for not cowering to the immediate needs for finances and instead looking to the future needs of the team.

Say what you will about the summer mercato, but Inter’s management handled the shackles of FFP with shrewd deal-making and were still able to bring in quality that has already started to pay dividends — see Milan Skriniar, Matias Vecino and Borja Valero. They were able to hang on to Perisic and add other players with potential.

Granted, we still need help on defense, but I digress.

I would like to think that Perisic sees the bigger picture and that the team’s aspirations of the Scudetto and of European football next season are realistic and that the deals made this summer are a testament to the team’s commitment to that.

I’m not trying to sound Pollyanna here, but I want to hope for the best before I anticipate the worst when it comes to my team. I think Perisic will stay no matter what his stats are this season.

Oh, by the way if you are keeping score at home, Perisic has notched three goals and three assists in five games for the Nerazzurri.

Forza Inter!