Inter president Steven Zhang has returned to Italy according to a report in today’s print edition of Italian daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
Zhang had been stuck in his native China since March due to the global COVID-19 pandemic but returned to Milan late last night and today he will be at club headquarters to work alongside club management.
Despite having been in constant contact with club management whilst in China, today will represent the first opportunity in a long time for things to be done on a face-to-face basis.
Any discussion or decision relating to the future, namely that of Antonio Conte, will not be made until after Inter’s Europa League campaign concludes.
The hope is that the meeting will not take place before August 21, the date of the Europa League final, which Inter are just one win away from reaching.
On Sunday Zhang will join the Inter team in Dusseldorf, Germany and will probable dine with the team ahead of their Europa League semi final with Shakhtar Donetsk the following day.
With regards to the meeting with Conte, the report goes on to explain that Zhang will have to listen to the requests of Conte, understand how deep the rift between him and the management is and make a decision on which path to take for the future.
There is no guarantee that relations will be reconciled in the meeting and in the event that the club and Conte decide to go their separate ways Zhang will be tasked with navigating the divorce in the best way possible. Zhang will rely on Inter chief executive Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Marotta who he always delegates sporting decisions to.
