Antonio Conte has performed a full u-turn on Christian Eriksen after announcing he would trial the Dane in a play-maker role, as one eagle-eyed Italian journalist noted tonight.

Eriksen will start Inter’s Coppa Italia tie at Fiorentina tomorrow in the central midfield position normally occupied by Marcelo Brozovic, who will be rested ahead of Sunday’s Derby d’Italia against Juventus.

Conte said he expected ‘big things’ from the former Tottenham midfielder in his new role, but as FcInter1908.it’s editor Daniele Mari pointed out on Twitter, the Inter boss had no intention of trying such an experiment as recently as two months ago.

Asked whether Eriksen could play in the deep-lying ‘regista’ position filled by Andrea Pirlo when Conte was at Juventus, during a press conference on 21 November, Conte told reporters: “No, absolutely not.

“In my opinion he can’t play there, it’s a position that would disadvantage him too much.

“Christian has an important quality, he can shoot with his right foot and his left foot in the same way.

“If you take this option away from him, you’d completely distort his way of playing.”

Conte attempted to play Eriksen as a trequartista in a 3-4-1-2 system during Inter’s league matches after Serie A resumed in June, but the experiment did not last long before he reverted to 3-5-2 for the Nerazzurri’s run to the UEFA Europa League Final.

The 28-year-old, who is still expected to leave the club during the January transfer window, has made just five starts in all competitions so far this season.