Antonio Conte will only stay at Inter if Suning present him with a convincing plan for the future, according to a report in the Italian media today.
As per Gazzetta dello Sport’s print edition, Nerazzurri president Steven Zhang remains committed to keeping the club at a highly competitive level for next season, but he has yet to explain how this will be done.
Zhang will need to be persuasive with Conte and Inter’s directors – all of whom are out of contract in 2022 – otherwise things could take a nasty turn.
Inter do not intend to sell their top players in the summer, the Milan-based paper explained, but they will need a significant sale before June 30 and that could be Milan Skriniar or Stefan de Vrij.
Skriniar has a lot of interest from other clubs while De Vrij was promised a contract extension which has failed to materialise.
Alessandro Bastoni is the defender with the highest valuation at present, although the report did not specify whether his future was at risk as well.
Inter must sort their cost-cutting measures before thinking about the transfer market, following Zhang’s request to all players to give up two months’ wages.
The players did not like the timing or the manner of the proposal, but they are open to negotiating further deferrals for their salary payments.
Zhang will ask staff in every area of the club to reduce their operations by 15%, as part of Suning’s plans to make the Nerazzurri more sustainable.
