Ivan Perisic says it was not a difficult decision to snub a place in the Champions League this season by joining Inter Milan from Wolfsburg.
While Wolfsburg prepare for games against Manchester United, CSKA Moscow and PSV Eindhoven in the group stage this season, Perisic will be putting his feet up and watching on television. He will not get to hear the Champions League anthem that he would have heard had he remained with the Bundesliga club. But he has no regrets.
"It's nothing to do with the Champions League, which I am counting on playing in next year anyway," Perisic told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "When a big club comes looking for you with such determination, and they fight two months despite Wolfsburg's resistance to get you, then it's an easy decision to take.
"I know that Inter had a difficult season, but I believe we've got all we need to do well this year."
The Nerazzurri have won their opening two Serie A games, but their first big test comes this Sunday when they host AC Milan.
"I've definitely started to realise how important this game against Milan is," Perisic added. "We're going to do all we can to beat them in such a special game. First let me get back to Milan [from international duty with Croatia] and work with my new teammates."
Perisic has yet to link up with the Inter squad as his transfer went through after the start of the international break, but he hopes that after such a long and determined pursuit for him, coach Roberto Mancini will have a plan in mind for where he will play in the Milan derby.
"I've still got to train for the first time with my new teammates so there will be time for me to talk tactics with the coach," he said. "And I know that I've got to earn myself a place in the starting XI with the work I do during the week.
"I want to experience for myself some of the things I have been told about."