It speaks volumes both about Antonio Conte’s declining reputation and the direction Ineos want to go in that the former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur boss has not even entered the discussions for the Manchester United hotseat.
In another era, when the Glazers were still calling the shorts and when the 2017 Premier League winner was still viewed amongst the managerial elite, it’s not hard to imagine the Red Devils chasing Antonio Conte pretty hard.
The short-termism of the Glazer era has given way to a more considered, long-term approach under Ineos, however. If Erik ten Hag does go, the FA Cup-winning Dutchman will likely be replaced by a young, forward-thinking, adaptable tactician rather than one as stubborn, uncompromising and sometimes downright toxic as Conte.
Manchester United’s Sofyan Amrabat a Napoli option
The prospect of Conte working alongside the similarly combustable Aurelio de Laurentiis at Napoli, then, may be the footballing equivalent of dropping a family pack of Menthos into a two-litre Pepsi bottle.
Fabrizio Romano reported on Friday that motormouth president De Laurentiis is closing in on a deal to make Conte Napoli’s fourth head coach since Luciano Spalletti rode off into the sunset following 2023’s Scudetto success.
As many of his former clubs found out – particularly Chelsea and Juventus – the 54-year-old tends to be very demanding and very specific about the players he wants to sign. And, according to Italian agent Gigi Iacomino, Conte already has a healthy list of targets for the Partenopei to pour over.
One of those, Iacomino believes, is Sofyan Amrabat; the Manchester United loanee who, alongside Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans, may have played his final game for the Red Devils last week at Wembley.
“Conte would have proposed several names to De Laurentiis,” Iacomino tells Spazio Napoli. “(Conte) is would be at hunting heavy shots in defence. Conte would like at least one, if not two, of (Milan) Skriniar, Kim (Min-Jae) and (Alessandro) Buongiorno for his defensive department.”
“One of the names that Conte would like (in midfield) would in fact be Amrabat.”
Fiorentina loanee could leave an FA Cup winner
Masterful against Manchester City, Amrabat finally showed what all the fuss was about when United picked him up on loan from Fiorentina after Morocco’s outstanding World Cup campaign in Qatar.
Unfortunately for the 27-year-old – labelled ‘Prime Gattuso’ by Paul Scholes as the confetti flew – his impressive run in the United side appears to have come a little too late as far as his hopes of securing a permanent deal are concerned. The Red Devils look unlikely to trigger the £21 million option-to-buy clause in his contract.
Amrabat is not giving up until the Fat Lady sings, however, telling Ziggo Sport with an FA Cup winners’ medal around his neck that he still hopes to remain a Man United player for 2024/25.
“Do I already know what I’m going to do next year? No. We are going to talk,” says Amrabat, who previously worked with Ten Hag at Utrecht in the Eredivisie.
“Staying is certainly an option. Look, I think it has been a very difficult season. For Manchester United it needs to be much better, and also for me personally.
“(The season) wasn’t easy. I have always remained calm and trained very hard. Ultimately, that patience has been rewarded.
‘We are going to talk. Manchester United are the biggest club in the world, so who wouldn’t want to play football here? But all parties have to be happy with each other, so we will sit down now and see what happens.”