Antonio Conte will have an enormous bearing on the future of Inter’s star players, a report in the Italian media has explained.
Corriere della Sera‘s online edition warned Steven Zhang could not afford to lose Conte’s confidence when the pair meet for talks next week.
Conte does not want to leave Inter and has always said that, but he cannot stay if he knows the team will not be competitive to win trophies.
Inter would risk losing several top players along with Conte if he chose to leave, because it would be a clear sign that the club could not continue competing at a high level.
Conte has kept everyone united at Inter so far and there would be a huge vacuum left in his wake if he departed, the report continued.
The upcoming summer transfer window is expected to be stagnant and flat, but there are certain players who will always have interest and Inter will need to be ready for that.
Zhang will struggle to stop an exodus of key players if Conte were to be lured away by a club from England or Spain, making next week’s meeting very important.
Conte will not speak to reporters in his press conference as previously scheduled today, because he does not want to be a lightning rod for Suning and answer questions which should be asked of them instead.