Antonio Conte

[M.Adnan]

The latest rumour I saw is that Conte is going to Naples. Would be fun - ADL and Conte .

I give him 6 months max.

 

[iThrowRocksAtBlindKids]

At this point, Conte with any Italian club… the press conference after every match bitching and moaning about how is he expected to succeed without multiple world class signings.

 

[Jane The Virgin]

Conte won't just go to Milan in the same way Mourinho goes to clubs, without already setting some principal rules prior to his arrival. Be that signings of new players, or contract extension to players already there.

We can talk about Conte's negatives all day long here now, but his positives are much bigger and greater.

Whatever untapped potential is there in the players, Conte will get it out asap from them and push the players to that next level.

Conte turns boys into men. As simple as that. Has clear ideas that either you humble yourself before the emblem of the team or you gtfo from the squad.

Milan has some good young players that with Conte can become killers.

The impression I get from reading here is that you guys would love Conte to Milan, and it's for the wrong reasons imo.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[DARi0]

What's with this Milan talk? It's ADL that has been chasing him for a long time.

According to Rai, agreement has been found. Calcionapoli24, suggest that the figures could be somewhere in the region of €6.5m per season.

Lukaku @ Napoli confirmed. Oh he will LOVE the food there

 

[DARi0]

Now La Repubblica newspaper, Sky Sport Italia and more are saying that President Aurelio De Laurentiis is having second thoughts over Conte

Conte would require a certain level of investment in the transfer market and specific types of players that might not already be in the squad.

He also has a strong personality and that might not fit well with a vocal President like De Laurentiis.

It seems that ADL would rather wait for Pioli to be fired

 

[DARi0]

Seems that nobody was crazy enough to give Conte that big of a salary, especially after how be ended his previous jobs.

Antonio Conte’s assistant manager Christian Stellini confirms his boss ‘is eager to get back to work’ with a new tactical identity, then tries to ‘debunk’ some myths about the coach.

Conte has been out of work since leaving Tottenham Hotspur in March 2023 and linked repeatedly with a return to Serie A for Napoli, Milan or Juventus, not to mention Chelsea and Manchester United.

Now it's reported that Conte lowered his salary demands to 4.5M/year, so he becomes interesting again for Milan and Napoli.

However, multiple sources also reported that these clubs are nervous about hiring Conte for a number of reasons, considering him to be tactically old-fashioned and negative, along with too demanding for the finances of many Italian teams.

His assistant manager Stellini, who stepped in as interim coach at Tottenham briefly after Conte walked away, tried to disprove all of those ‘myths’ about his boss.

“There is a strong desire to get back on the field, but we have spent the year working regardless and getting up to date, because Antonio always wants to improve himself,” Stellini told TeleLombardia.

“In the next adventure, if there is one, there will be tactical changes. We worked hard on that. Conte wants to bring more unpredictability and modernity to his football.”

Conte demanding and transparent​

The coach is also famous for not just having a massive salary, but demanding several big signings of his clubs, walking away from Inter after the Scudetto because they were not in a financial position to guarantee those buys.

“That is true of all important coaches. It is never easy to create a synergy between club and coach, because the club’s economic requirements do not always fit with the needs of a coach who wants to win every game. Some coaches hide that better than others.

“Conte is a very transparent person, very demanding, but he always achieved great results. That’s the crux of the matter,” assured Stellini.

Except for the Champions League

“If I look at Conte’s career, I see a coach who asked for ambitious projects, not specific players. And you do not necessarily need expensive players for an ambitious project.

“The only player that Conte expressly requested was Romelu Lukaku, who went on to score 60 goals for Inter and won the Scudetto, then was sold for twice the money. This too is a myth that needs to be debunked: Conte always took on projects that were destined to grow and he always got results.”

Not exactly twice the money

Is it not true that the coach often asks to inherit a squad that is ready to win silverware?

“Some of these labels attached to Conte are laughable. He is like everyone else, he wouldn’t just choose any old project. His results speak for themselves, even in the Italy squad.”

League results

There were reports over the last few days that Rafael Leao had been close to Inter before Conte turned down the signing, so he went to Milan instead.

Although not denying that, Stellini insists there is some precious context to be considered here.

“At that time, you could either sign Lukaku or Leao, so what was the best choice? At that moment, it was definitely Lukaku. Everyone could see Leao was a prospective talent, but a coach chooses based on his needs. It’s ridiculous to talk about this.”

Confirmed

If there are reports that the coach is offering himself to Milan then Stellini is doing little to disavow people of that idea.

“Milan are a strong team, who are second in the table. There is a gap with Inter to be bridged, Stefano Pioli has done great things, but in Conte’s history, he was always able to bridge those gaps.

“Conte arrived at Juve with Milan out in front and Juve got back to winning ways. He went to Inter after Juve won nine consecutive titles, and this gets overturned.”

Seems like Conte prefers Milan rather than having ADL as the final boss

 

[brehme1989]

Forgot to mention that it was SMS + Leao vs Lukaku.

But ok Leao was too raw and would have broken under Conte most likely and Lautaro hadn't stepped up by then.

 

[wera]

Would we win Serie A with Leao instead of Lukaku?

And wasn't the price for SMS as big as for Lukaku?

 

[varmin]

In Milan he has some suitable players for his system like Theo, Florenzi, Lotus chick. Leao will be converted as a SS most probably. I don't see Pulisic to fit in Conte's football.

 

[Il Drago]

Now it's reported that Conte lowered his salary demands to 4.5M/year, so he becomes interesting again for Milan and Napoli.

Where did you get these figures from? Pedulla is talking about Napoli offering him 6.5-7m.

And Milan aren't interested so it doesn't matter if Conte prefers them. So either he takes Napoli's offer, which is the most likely scenario, or he stays without a job for another season.

 

[brehme1989]

Would we win Serie A with Leao instead of Lukaku?

And wasn't the price for SMS as big as for Lukaku?

Salary was almost half and payment structure more benefiical for cash flow.

Can't comment on the first part, but I'd argue with SMS Barella and Brozo midfield and Sensi with the moon he was in, surely.
That'd also give us the Eriksen moneh back and guess which striker cost as much... a certain Erling Haaland.

Although that couldn't have happened with Leao already on board and I trust we'd end up with Cavani instead (he was part of the talks on Icardi sale, then when Lukaku agreed with Juventus we went back and they asked for over 30m don't recall exact number and then when Dybala refused Man U we gave them the 80m they were asking for)

But overall SMS would have been a wiser move but the sale of Lukaku was very beneficial economically.

 

[wera]

I would start with not paying for Correa and going for Leao. At least we had positives with Lukaku and we also managed to flip him for money.

So as much as we all dislike Lukaku right now, those two seasons were a lot better than it could've been, especially his sale to Chelsea

While getting SMS from Lotito was always a hard thing for us. I think maybe we would've gone for SMS if Barella was not coming to us but otherwise it seems a bit of a stretch for us to get both. I don't Lukaku has a lot to do with that.

 

[brehme1989]

I would start with not paying for Correa and going for Leao. At least we had positives with Lukaku and we also managed to flip him for money.

So as much as we all dislike Lukaku right now, those two seasons were a lot better than it could've been, especially his sale to Chelsea

While getting SMS from Lotito was always a hard thing for us. I think maybe we would've gone for SMS if Barella was not coming to us but otherwise it seems a bit of a stretch for us to get both. I don't Lukaku has a lot to do with that.

Leao was already a Milan player for 35m gor a full season by the time we ended up signing Correa. That's not an option we had.


SMS deal was decided and confirmed with all parties, we just put it on hold because Conte said Lukaku should be the priority and then Ausilio was instructed to attempt to sell a shitload of players in order to see if we could pull a miracle and afford both.
Barella was already here, Sensi as well.

We tried to flip Vecino, Valero and Gagliardini that summer. I think Vecino got injured and a move to Betis was blocked and Gagliardini only had some shitty PL offers he didn't want to consider. Vecino might have been in 2020 though.

 

[DARi0]

Where did you get these figures from? Pedulla is talking about Napoli offering him 6.5-7m.

And Milan aren't interested so it doesn't matter if Conte prefers them. So either he takes Napoli's offer, which is the most likely scenario, or he stays without a job for another season.

Il Mattino and page 16 of Corriere dello Sport detail how Conte has started to lower his contract demands ahead of the summer, willing to accept a deal worth around €4-5m net per season plus add-ons and image rights. Not the most reliable source.

Indeed Milan do not seem interested in him so Conte will probably take on Napoli, especially if this report is true:

Sportitalia claims Napoli have met Conte in Turin, offering the coach €6.5m-a-year salary plus €2m add-ons, tied to a Champions League qualification as the minimum target for next season.

If Conte accepts the offer, the €2m in bonuses will be added to the ‘fixed’ salary from 2025-26, according to the report.

That will be quite a salary, almost like ADL feels guilty and wants to compensate for selling top players AND losing Giuntoli in the process.

 

[brehme1989]

Conte at Napoli could actually work or just explode. Similar mentality, it depends what kind of button will be pushed when the first click sounds

 

[CafeCordoba]

Leao was already a Milan player for 35m gor a full season by the time we ended up signing Correa. That's not an option we had.

Leao arrived to Milan in 2019 summer. Correa arrived to Inter in 2021 summer, that's two full years afterwards. Definitely not an option at that point.