ROME – Antonio Conte, manager of Inter Milan, will stay at the club after fears were sparked that the manager would leave, reports Il fatto quotidiano.

Conte, 51, had spoken of his desire to leave the club after just a year in charge after Inter’s loss to Sevilla in the Europa League final saying, “I haven’t liked the behaviour of the club.” But on Wednesday it was announced that Conte will remain at Inter at least for the start of the next season after a meeting with club chairman, Steven Zhang.

 In an attempt to resolve the issues surrounding Conte’s time at Inter, the chairman and manager had a face to face that lasted three hours on Tuesday. After the meeting, at around 7 p.m. an official announcement came from the club stating “Today’s meeting between the Club and Antonio Conte was constructive, in the sense of continuity and shared strategy. After this the foundations have been stabilised in order to go on together in the project.”

 After Friday night’s 3-2 defeat to Sevilla in the Europa League final, Conte had worried the club with his honest post-match comments, saying “We didn’t feel protected by the club.” However, Tuesday’s meeting in Somma Lombardo, a province of Varese, has resolved those problems and Zhang announced “Yes, Antonio will stay as the leader of Inter.” The meeting took place almost exactly a year after Conte’s first game on Inter’s sidelines, a 4-0 thrashing of Lecce. Since then, Conte has had a reasonably successful year in charge, finishing second in Serie A and getting to the final of Europe’s second biggest competition, the Europa League.

 Conte is one of Italy’s great modern footballers, having won a Champions League and five Serie A titles with Juventus, a team he also captained. As a manager Conte has three Serie A titles under his belt, as well as a Premier League win with Chelsea. Conte broke records in England, becoming the first manager ever to have won three consecutive Manager of the Month awards and sealing the title with a famous 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion in 2017.

 Meanwhile, rumours are swirling after potentially football’s biggest announcement in a decade, the handing in of a transfer request by Lionel Messi at Barcelona. There were already hopes that Messi might decide to switch from the decadent F.C. Barcelona side to Inter Milan with chairman Zhang reportedly holding a meeting with the Argentine’s representatives. The revelation on Tuesday that Messi, who many consider the greatest player in history, had asked to leave Barcelona after 19 years there added more credit to the rumour of a swap to Italy than ever. Time will tell, but the prospect of Messi lining up against old foe Cristiano Ronaldo in Italy’s top league has never been so close. On July 28, Inter projected the silhouette of Messi onto Milan's famous Duomo, to advertise a game between Inter and Napoli. 

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