Antonio Conte will form a united front with Beppe Marotta and Piero Ausilio when they meet Steven Zhang this evening, according to a report in the Italian media.
FcInterNews.it said the trio had held ‘productive’ talks ahead of their much-anticipated face-to-face summit with Inter’s president.
Conte retains the full backing of Marotta and Ausilio, both of whom are convinced they can begin a period of long-term success together.
Zhang had originally scheduled his summit with Conte and club directors for Tuesday, but he has brought the meeting forward because he wants to resolve the situation immediately.
Inter’s president is hoping the club can use Sunday’s match at home to Udinese – where the Nerazzurri will lift the Serie A trophy – to announce they will be continuing with Conte as head coach.
Zhang is due to explain the club’s financial situation and present Conte, Marotta and Ausilio with Suning’s plans for next season.
Conte understands Inter’s need to cut costs and self-finance their transfer business, but he does not want Suning to sell off players from his starting XI.
He is prepared to sacrifice other players who are on high wages but aren’t essential, such as Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Ivan Perisic.
Ashley Young, Aleksandar Kolarov and Danilo D’Ambrosio will be released when their contracts expire in the summer and Inter will aim to replace them with players on lower salaries, such as Federico Dimarco (whose wages are 70% smaller than Young’s).