Barely one week after guiding Inter Milan to their first Serie A title in over a decade, Antonio Conte is reportedly set to part ways with the defending champions within 48 hours with the Italian understood to be angry with the club’s financial restrictions this summer window.
Conte has enjoyed a superb two seasons with the the Nerazzurri, culminating in their winning of the Scudetto this campaign, thereby ending Juventus’ nine-year dominance of Italian football.
The 51-year-old was expected to lead the club into the 2021-22 campaign. However, Inter’s serious financial predicament could result in Conte walking away so soon after clinching Serie A glory.
According to Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, Conte was reportedly furious with president Steven Zhang when he was informed that the club would be forced to sell several of their star players and hand out wage reductions.
The wage bill reportedly needs to be cut by 20 per cent, while they must generate a huge £86.5million in player sales to stay afloat.
Conte had been expecting to splash out more money in the coming window in order to sustain Inter’s dominance at the summit of Serie A, and he is understood to be set to meet Zhang again in the coming days to arrange the details of his contract termination – which would cost the Italian around £5.2m.
Conte dedicated Inter’s Scudetto triumph to himself over the weekend after winning the Italian top flight by a huge 12 points.
“I dedicate it [the Scudetto] to myself. Because I know that in any case it has not been an easy path in these two years,’ he said.
“I really had to get everything out of myself. There have also been times when I have doubted things and doubted myself.
“But we have been strong enough to go beyond everything. We have all been good, even me.
“I think it was the right end to an extraordinary year. Even today we played a beautiful game, we didn’t leave anything behind.
“We have collected 91 points, scored more than 90 goals. The best defence, the second-best attack, it means having done something beautiful and important.”
