Conte & Marotta Have Had Friction Over Inter’s Left Wing-Back Signings, Italian Media Claim

Antonio Conte and Beppe Marotta have not always seen eye to eye over Inter’s transfer strategies, an Italian media report claimed today.

Tuttosport’s print edition reported that Conte has alternated between Ivan Perisic, Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian this season while continuously reminding the club’s management of the need for a specialist left wing-back.

This caused some friction between Conte and Marotta during last year’s January transfer window, with the Turin-based paper saying the left wing debate was a touchy subject for the Nerazzurri’s chief executive.

In January 2020, Conte asked for Young and Victor Moses to bolster the wing-back departments and got them, when the club had instead been targeting a move for Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso.

Last summer, Inter forked out €45 million, including add-ons, for Achraf Hakimi, a right wing-back, but Conte wanted to sign Chelsea’s Emerson Palmieri as well for the left-hand side.

A report in the Italian media has today suggested that Young could leave Inter at the end of the season and be replaced by Spezia’s Simone Bastoni.

Other recent reports have suggested that Federico Dimarco will return to Inter as well.