Antonio Conte has only chosen four members of his starting XI so far for Inter’s Serie A opener against Lecce, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

Samir Handanovic, Stefan de Vrij, Milan Skriniar and Marcelo Brozovic are guaranteed to begin the match at San Siro on 26 August.

But everybody else must fight for their places in the next two weeks, as preseason training intensifies ahead of Conte’s first competitive game in charge.

Injuries, late arrivals for preseason, delays in the transfer market and close competition on the wings means it remains difficult to predict the Nerazzurri’s first line-up.

Conte will concentrate heavily on Inter’s attacking play during the next few days, having been unable to make any significant progress last month due to his striker shortage.

Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez are both available now while Matteo Politano provides one alternative, meaning Inter can start making up for lost time.

Valentino Lazaro and Kwadwo Asamoah are up to speed and will begin challenging Antonio Candreva and Dalbert for a starting berth at wing-back.

The latter pair played virtually all of Inter’s preseason matches but the Austrian’s return from a thigh injury gives Conte a selection headache again.

Inter are due to complete another tough double training session at Appiano Gentile today, having started the week with two days off following the matches against Valencia and Virtus Bergamo.

The first team returned to action en masse yesterday but several players came in for extra training on Tuesday, such as Lukaku – who needs to improve his fitness after missing most of Manchester United’s preseason – and those still recovering from injuries.

Conte is working the squad hard ahead of their Serie A debut but Inter’s players are said to have struck up a good relationship with new fitness coach Antonio Pintus.

The former Real Madrid trainer is renowned for his grueling physical drills but has kept everyone onside by mixing firm instructions with jokes and light-hearted comments.