Inter president Steven Zhang has been described as the real winner of the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting which determined Antonio Conte’s future as Inter manager.
After a three and a half hour long meeting at Villa Bellini, it was decided that Conte would remain as manager of Inter, a decision which has put an end to multiple weeks worth of speculation that he could be leaving.
Zhang managed to work out the best way to convey the messages the club wanted to give Conte, whose relations with Zhang have remained good even in moments of great tension. Conte was more open minded to dialogue in the meeting and the report claims that Zhang receieved some advice from former Inter president Massimo Moratti.
Sacking Conte would have cost Inter a sum of €55 million and the report goes on to explain that in truth Conte never had any intention of resigning from his post as Inter manager and he simply wanted to clarify the outstanding issues without taking a step backwards.
Inter, like every other club on the planet, have been hurt by the global COVID-19 pandemic and as a result Inter must pay closer attention to their balance sheets.
During the meeting, which also included chief executive Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Marotta, chief executive Alessandro Antonello, sporting director Piero Ausilio and club lawyer Angelo Capellini, it was made clear that Inter would have to be prudent on the transfer market and could not make signings like that of Romelu Lukaku like they did last Summer. The transfers will be strictly linked to player sales.