Antonio Conte

[Jusef]

Bluenine had some very good points here. If we skipped Tonali then bought someone with similar value e.g. Ndombele, we could safely say this is Conte's wish. But Vidal, the two amounts are not the same, in terms of total investment.

The point is, we don't know what was happening during that meeting. Conte wanted both Tonali and Vidal for Scudo, but Zhang limited to only one? Or Zhang forced Conte to choose either Tonali and Scudetto or Vidal but lesser aim (2nd place)? Conte was pissed off and outbursted in front of the camera coz Zhang requested Scudo but didn't want to spend? etc. I mean, the outcome of the meeting was surprising for me, did not sound as the "usual Conte" I know. He hates losing. He was always hungry for success. But suddenly he settled down to 2nd place?!? Conte can't spend his own money for players, obviously.

The more you look how the market is going on afterwards, the more sense it makes. Kolarov...1.5m, Darmian...2m + Vidal 0m. And that's it. We don't want to spend. Conte is the coach, should be the last person to not want that. I won't go to binary mode and say this season is a Conte failure ALONE coz there are many things behind the curtain...

Why is this so difficult. It’s now apparently clear that Tonali was meant to arrive at Inter but it wasn’t good enough for Conte. Whether he requested Vidal + one or just Vidal and Nainggolan or just Vidal.

So to say that Tonali did not arrive at Inter because of Conte is accurate.

The facts now are Tonali was due to arrive , there was a change of direction after Conte threatened to leave. A new strategy was adopted and the arrival of Tonali was either abandoned or at the very least not priority any more.

 

[.h.]

I dont really believe that tbh. THe financial argument makes a lot of sense to me.

The point PHM makes is that there are kinda two obvious scenarios. 1 - the money earmarked for Tonali goes elsewhere, 2 - the money earmarked for Tonali doesnt go elsewhere.

Currently, it looks more like (2) is true - we;re not linked with any major fee transfers, and everything is sell before we buy. If we were going to spend 20, 30 mil on another couple of players, then clearly it was prioritiy calls

 

[PHM1605]

Why is this so difficult. It’s now apparently clear that Tonali was meant to arrive at Inter but it wasn’t good enough for Conte. Whether he requested Vidal + one or just Vidal and Nainggolan or just Vidal.

So to say that Tonali did not arrive at Inter because of Conte is accurate.

The facts now are Tonali was due to arrive , there was a change of direction after Conte threatened to leave. A new strategy was adopted and the arrival of Tonali was either abandoned or at the very least not priority any more.

Was there really a change of direction or just media speculation before the meeting? Ausilio has just said the opposite i.e. we never made an offer for Tonali. I would not discuss whether he has been honest or not, as said, we all don't know.

It's easy to figure out in the next days. If we don't spend anything but peanuts, we don't (and didn't) have that money to begin with.

 

[IRR26]

Inter already had many midfielders...

Brozo, Eriksen, Sensi, Barella, Gagliardini, Vecino, Nainggolan

So adding a new young midfielder to that would not make much sense to Conte.

I believe Inter chose to sign Sensi permanently and thats why declined on Tonali. Conte wants his favourite player Vidal so there is not much room for Tonali who would need time to grow and learn Conte's tactics.

 

[.h.]

i think its exactly that - the media side is being a bit more suppressed. Look at all the COnte out rumours, with Allegri lined up. They got that really wrong. Never neglect the media's ability to make shit up based on breadcrumbs only.

 

[Jusef]

Speculation?

When the president of Brescia comes out at least three times and says that Tonali was destined to Inter or Inter better hurry up and the player is waiting, than the reasonable reader will understand that there was an arrangement. Now why did Inter not follow through with it?

Well again, a reasonable reader who is following the business of the club during this period will remember that Conte was threatening to leave.

It than doesn’t need a genius to connect the two and realize that most likely a new plan was adopted to accommodate a Coach who likely wanted different players. Hence the abandonment of the Tonali deal.

 

[.h.]

because we've probably had the deal lined up for a few months, but then COVID hit? Like I said, we're out at least 30mil in direct revenue, and we were probably counting on (e.g.) Perisic being redeemed which looks more unlikely every passing day

 

[PHM1605]

Speculation?

When the president of Brescia comes out at least three times and says that Tonali was destined to Inter or Inter better hurry up and the player is waiting, than the reasonable reader will understand that there was an arrangement. Now why did Inter not follow through with it?

Well again, a reasonable reader who is following the business of the club during this period will remember that Conte was threatening to leave.

It than doesn’t need a genius to connect the two and realize that most likely a new plan was adopted to accommodate a Coach who likely wanted different players. Hence the abandonment of the Tonali deal.

Maybe you missed the quote above. That same guy said Conte & Marotta all love Tonali. So if you wanna trust Cellino, blame Sunning.

https://www.fcinter1908.it/calciomercato/cellino-inter-agire/

Really hard to believe Conte has 38m to spend but he chose to save money for Zhang's pocket. Let's see if he really has that.

 

[varmin]

Speculation?

When the president of Brescia comes out at least three times and says that Tonali was destined to Inter or Inter better hurry up and the player is waiting, than the reasonable reader will understand that there was an arrangement. Now why did Inter not follow through with it?

Well again, a reasonable reader who is following the business of the club during this period will remember that Conte was threatening to leave.

It than doesn’t need a genius to connect the two and realize that most likely a new plan was adopted to accommodate a Coach who likely wanted different players. Hence the abandonment of the Tonali deal.

Don't believe too much what Cellino said. Most probably he was trying to push us to buy Tonali on his price. If he was satisfied with our offer, the deal would already have been done long time ago, similar to Hakimi's one. I also don't believe in rumors that Barca or Man U offered 65m but he declined it.
And don't really get the theory of Conte threatening to leave if we buy Tonali instead of Vidal? That sounds as total crap as if we have enough money we could have signed both of them. It's not like to choose between two 40mln players. Vidal will come for free, if one doesn't count his fat wage.
Znagi just cut off the cash, that is all. Since the rumor that they don't request the scudetto as they know that Conte will require a solid selection.

 

[Jusef]

because we've probably had the deal lined up for a few months, but then COVID hit? Like I said, we're out at least 30mil in direct revenue, and we were probably counting on (e.g.) Perisic being redeemed which looks more unlikely every passing day

But Tonali would have been an investment and considering his age, the salary he would have agreed to and with an Italian manager like Conte the money invested would have been realised as an asset for the books like Barella and Sensi currently are.

However you know as well as I do that Vidal like player is a bad indication for EV value of a club like Inter.

I suspect your an accountant and you must have read KPMG’s Football Clubs valuation report. If you have than you know that the methodology in determining a clubs Enterprise value (EV) considers the cost to revenue ratio and market value of the squad.

A bad indicator for EV value is high wage earners like Vidal while good squad value indicators like talents raise a clubs EV value. In other words a Tonali is considered for football valuations purposes as a good EV indicator while vidals decrease it.

 

[.h.]

I agree he would have been an investment, and I would loved to have signed him, but to invest you need to have cash tbh.

We cant build a squad optimised for EV, or for potential, to be honest. We're not Ajax. We are a team that needs to have some winning backbone to it - that was lacking last season. I think players like Vidal and Kolarov add a certain element of experience and steel that we need, whilst commanding minimal (or no) transfer fees. In the scheme of things, if we get Vidal, Darmian, Kolarov, and another experienced striker for the same price as Tonali, in the SHORT TERM, what would be a better deal?

Truth is we've already got a good spine to this team. Bastoni, Sensi, Barella, Hakimi, Lautaro is damn good - five of our starting are U-25? That's pretty impressive tbh.

 

[Jusef]

I agree he would have been an investment, and I would loved to have signed him, but to invest you need to have cash tbh.

We cant build a squad optimised for EV, or for potential, to be honest. We're not Ajax. We are a team that needs to have some winning backbone to it - that was lacking last season. I think players like Vidal and Kolarov add a certain element of experience and steel that we need, whilst commanding minimal (or no) transfer fees. In the scheme of things, if we get Vidal, Darmian, Kolarov, and another experienced striker for the same price as Tonali, in the SHORT TERM, what would be a better deal?

Truth is we've already got a good spine to this team. Bastoni, Sensi, Barella, Hakimi, Lautaro is damn good - five of our starting are U-25? That's pretty impressive tbh.

Based on what your saying than Conte needs to win this year or at the very least next year. Because a player like Tonali would have likely been a starter within two years at this club and within a couple years been playing alongside a mature Sensi and Barella which may have been enough to win the Scudetto in ~5 years.

Considering COVID and all else , betting on Tonali would have been the safer and more reasonably prospective route.

 

[.h.]

I personally dont like setting the expectations of winning THIS YEAR AT ALL COSTS, considering Juventus are still stronger than us (though Pirlo is a complete unknown).

At some point you have to stop being a club that is focused on developing players, and a club that is focused on doing well and winning. I think this year we need to DO WELL, and for me that means at least getting to the knock out stages of the CL and competing for the Scudetto.

The thing is, its easier to rejuvenate a winning squad than make a developing squad win - with a winning squad you replace one or two players a season, which is a managable pace of change, and you can keep winning. With a rejuvenating squad, you find out some guys arent good enough and have to replace them, some guys wont make it at the CL, etc etc etc. Its more expensive.

As a side note, it looks like we are gonna bet on Skriniar, so with him as well that's another quite young player for us to be depending on. Personally I'm REALLY impressed with the core of this team, and I've no doubt we have a really good backbone, but the key is to start getting competitive and winning stuff.
I know that sides against what I said about must win this year - aim to win this year isprobably the right phrase.



The most important thing for me, tbh, is seeing some major progress. People like Vidal mean I expect to see progress sooner rather than later, but if 2 seasons of Vidal and Sanchez and 1 of Kolarov help us get further in the CL, and matures Barella, Sensi, all those guys I named before more physically, technically and mentally, then its immediately worth it


The last few years we have improved year on year, it is a slow but steady pace. I would like to keep that up

 

[rockball]

Whats the risk/reward situation for Milan’s CL all in?

Couldnt we go all in for the Scudetto this season a la Milan style?

All-in here is a terrible strategy, for Inter for sure.

Milan did it once a couple of years back, didn't work out well. Juve did the same with Ronaldo, did not work out.

The problem is not that it didn't work, some things are bound to fail. But the mess it creates, like what we're seeing with Juve now, is not what we want to get into. Not when things are looking like moving in the right direction. Even without Tonali, even without a big spending mercato, we have a decent squad. We have decent talent like Barella, Hakimi, Sensi, Bastoni, Lautaro who can become the core for many years to come. Add to them other good players who should be in their prime and are still *young* - Lukaku, De Vrij, Eriksen, Brozovic. We have a decent thing going, and there is no need to mess it up doing something very risky.

 

[cuba gooding]

All-in here is a terrible strategy, for Inter for sure.

Milan did it once a couple of years back, didn't work out well. Juve did the same with Ronaldo, did not work out.

The problem is not that it didn't work, some things are bound to fail. But the mess it creates, like what we're seeing with Juve now, is not what we want to get into. Not when things are looking like moving in the right direction. Even without Tonali, even without a big spending mercato, we have a decent squad. We have decent talent like Barella, Hakimi, Sensi, Bastoni, Lautaro who can become the core for many years to come. Add to them other good players who should be in their prime and are still *young* - Lukaku, De Vrij, Eriksen, Brozovic. We have a decent thing going, and there is no need to mess it up doing something very risky.

Spot on. I also think we already have decent squad and progressing really good last season. Just need to keep it going without making dramatic changes with high risk that can create a mess.

People (other league's fans) keep talking inter is a retirement home this summer while in fact we have lots of starting players that are young/havent reach their prime age. That is why adding one or two old players will balance the squad and hopefully improve the mentality

 

[Meysam]

I hope this season would be the last one I see Conte in Interl

 

[BasedGodPunk]

Honestly looking back at the Chelsea team from 2016-17 gives me hope. They weren't much if any better than the team we're going to have this year. Obviously the BIG exception being that team had a prime Eden Hazard. Even if we don't sign another quality player like Kante/SMS(which we won't) I think we could still have a shot at beating Juve. But I could also see us completely collapsing and finishing 5th or worse

 

[cuba gooding]

Honestly looking back at the Chelsea team from 2016-17 gives me hope. They weren't much if any better than the team we're going to have this year. Obviously the BIG exception being that team had a prime Eden Hazard. Even if we don't sign another quality player like Kante/SMS(which we won't) I think we could still have a shot at beating Juve. But I could also see us completely collapsing and finishing 5th or worse

That team also had prime costa, willian, fabregas, matic.

Anyway, I see people in here already dismissed the possibility that we can collapse or choking big time this coming season. Like, its not a possibility that we finish in 5th or worse. To be frank, we were only in the last season got CL position comfortably. two seasons before we only got it in the last match that gave us heart attack, lol.

 

[Palatiga]

we went from: Tonalli + Kumbulla done deal (70-80 millions) since January, new LWB incoming, reinforcement for midfield and 4th striker,
To -> Vidal, Kolarov, Darmian for total 6,5 millions
No wonder conte were fuming, now i understand his outburst,
scudetto is within grasp and he's been told that we basically have 0 budget unless we sell all our deadwood

 

[KevinB]

What?

Didn't Conte ask to lower the expectations? And that he needs proven winners in order to win the scudetto?

IIRC he's the one demanding Vidal, Kolarov, Darmian instead of Tonali and Kumbulla.