Antonio Cassano is convinced Antonio Conte’s appointment as head coach is enough to make Inter favourites for the Scudetto this season.

The Nerazzurri will begin their new Serie A campaign tonight at home to Lecce, having impressed against high-profile opposition in preseason.

Cassano believes Conte is the best coach in Italy and will guarantee Inter ’15-20 more points’ on his own this year.

“Inter have had a great transfer window and I think they’ll win the league,” he told Sport Mediaset last night.

“It’s easy to say so afterwards so I’ll say it beforehand. Conte is a great motivator and knows how to get the best out of everyone. I wouldn’t have enjoyed being coached by him.

“Inter will give Juventus real problems for the Scudetto this year. They still need to do something in wide areas but they have an incredibly strong defence.

“Napoli are an organised team like always, but I think they might lack something as the season progresses.”

Cassano then warned Mauro Icardi it would be ‘an incredible own goal’ to stay at Inter after being told he was out of the club’s plans.

“He’s been out since last season when Luciano Spalletti and the club decided to get rid of him,” the former striker claimed.

“Conte has been given this hot potato upon his arrival but the problem is hanging over from last year.

“I think Icardi and Wanda are waiting for Juventus. Higuain is better than Icardi but it also depends what kind of striker you want.”