Former Inter President Massimo Moratti has urged the club and coach Antonio Conte to continue together, after they ended an 11-year wait for the Scudetto.
Conte’s side were crowned Serie A champions yesterday after Atalanta’s failure to beat Sassuolo left them with an unassailable lead at the top of the table, securing the coach’s fifth league title across stints with Juventus and Chelsea.
Moratti was the last President to oversee a Scudetto with the Nerazzurri, as Jose Mourinho led the club to the treble in 2010 before walking away to join Real Madrid, and he saw no reason for Conte to do the same.
“I think it’s right that Conte stays, he had an important victory this year and worked very well. It makes me think he can continue like this,” Moratti claimed in an interview with Italian television channel Rai yesterday.
“I don’t know if Conte should repeat what Mourinho did. Mourinho had also won another important trophy (Champions League) and so I forgave him.
“I think there is no reason to leave, the club will try to keep him. They are similar in tenacity, they are two very determined professionals. Conte seems to me to understand from how they describe him.”
The 75-year-old remained optimistic that Inter could enjoy sustained success, but felt they were aided this season by a lack of competition within Serie A.
“As a fan, every year you think that your team will win the league. It depends a lot on the other teams. The performance of the others was very poor, apart from Milan.
“Inter had a very strong performance on the other hand. They had already come close last year. This year the possibility was there and Conte took it in full.”
Moratti then looked ahead at how Inter could strengthen for next season and identified Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante, who Conte had worked with at Stamford Bridge.
“They need a back-up striker and one more player to reinforce the defence. In midfield, Kante would be fantastic,” he declared.
