Luciano Spalletti confirmed he will continue to leave out Ivan Perisic after the Inter winger submitted a transfer request.
General manager Beppe Marotta said ahead of Sunday's Serie A game at Torino that Perisic had put in the transfer request, amid speculation linking him with Atletico Madrid and Arsenal.
But Arsenal are reportedly only willing to sign Perisic on an initial loan deal, while Inter do not want to offload the Croatia international on a temporary basis.
Perisic was subsequently left out for the Torino game as a deflected header from Armando Izzo condemned Spalletti's side to a 1-0 defeat in which Matteo Politano was dismissed for dissent in the closing stages.
They have failed to score in both of their Serie A matches since the mid-season break, but Spalletti will not turn to wantaway winger Perisic.
"It's quite simple," Spalletti said to Sky Sport Italia. "Players can say what they want, but they are owned by clubs.
"They have signed contracts and, in order to leave, they need someone who is willing to pay for them. You can't leave for free and with your salary paid by someone else.
"If, as Marotta said, he doesn't want to play, then clearly he'll be left out. That's not a problem for me. Someone who cannot contribute to the team has to stay out."
Spalletti explained Perisic being unavailable was among the reasons for a change in system that saw Argentine strikers Mauro Icardi and Lautaro Martinez paired together in attack to little impact.
"I changed the wingers with two strikers, because I didn't have many wingers at my disposal," he added. "Perisic is unavailable, we risked Matteo Politano at the end because he wasn't well, while Keita [Balde Diao] is out.
"We made a different choice, based on physicality and not losing individual duels, so we could create chances for the front two. We hoped to create something more with the two points and in the first half we missed a couple of situations that could have given us the advantage.
"Now we've got to get the team back in order based on the tactical principles we have. We need everyone to do their job, because we were too sluggish in the tackles."
