Antonio Conte is in pole position to become Inter’s new head coach for next season if Luciano Spalletti leaves in the summer, according to Corriere dello Sport.

Conte was spotted in Milan on transfer deadline day but did not meet with anybody from the Nerazzurri, telling reporters he had not received any form of contact from the club.

The chances of him replacing Spalletti before the end of the current campaign also remain extremely low, as the Italian remains tied to Chelsea until 30 June and does not want to take over a side midway through the season.

However Conte remains the no. 1 candidate to arrive at San Siro for next season should Spalletti depart.

Inter supporters would prefer Diego Simeone or Jose Mourinho to return to the club in the event of a coaching change while new chief executive Giuseppe Marotta would appoint Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri if he could.

Conte would appear to be the right name for Inter, though, with the Rome-based paper outlining two key reasons why.

“Conte’s contract with Chelsea expires on 30 June and he will therefore be free [to sign with anyone],” they wrote today.

“It would be hard to find another proven winner like him.

“However there’s more to it: Conte is brilliant at ‘regenerating’ players. When he joined Juventus he took over a group that had just finish 7th and, with a few shrewd acquisitions (among which Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal), he guided them to a Scudetto triumph that seemed impossible.

“With the Italian national team he inherited a broken dressing room following the fiasco of the [2014] World Cup in Brazil and got them to produce a great European Championships campaign [in 2016].

“At Chelsea he took over a side that had finished 10th the previous season and won the Premier League title with them.

“There are few coaches like Conte when it comes to getting players to over-perform: remember how he improved [Leonardo] Bonucci at Juventus and valorised workmanlike players such as [Emanuele] Giaccherini and [Simone] Padoin.

“But there’s also the fact he nurtures a great lust for revenge towards the Old Lady [following his acrimonious departure in 2014].

“This could be what convinces him to roll the dice with Inter or it could act as a deterrent.

“We’ll find out in a few months’ time.”