If Antonio Conte Wants A Serie A Return

You have to hand it to Antonio Conte, nobody in modern football burns bridges quite like him.

His outburst against in the aftermath of Tottenham’s 3-3 draw against Southampton was spectacular, even for a man known for speaking his mind one too many times in the past.

Of course, observers of Conte and his history at the likes of Juve, Inter and Chelsea will know such a tirade isn’t out of the blue. This is, after all, a man who compared Juventus’ transfer strategy in 2014 as ‘going into a €100m restaurant with only €10’. Conte walked from out on Juve days into pre-season training and 10 months later Max Allegri took ostensibly the same group of players to within 90 minutes of a treble.

At Inter, Conte complained about the club signing players from ‘Sassuolo and Cagliari’ following a capitulation in Europe during his first season at the club. In 2018, he accused Chelsea of ‘lacking ambition’ amid a tirade against the club not spending money.

If you’ve paid close attention to his career, you’ll know that these are all the hallmarks of a Conte stay at any particular club: he arrives, makes noticeable improvements early on, becomes disgruntled, goes on a public outburst and promptly leaves, burning down the bridge as he does so.

Conte is a brilliant tactician, and is one of the best coaches in the world, but you hire him as tour own risk. He’s never stayed more than three seasons at any given club, and given the nature of his depature from previous clubs, he’s not likely to be welcomed back. A return to Juventus had been floated in the summer of 2019 following the club’s decision to let Allegri leave, yet it was vetoed by then-club president Andrea Agnelli due to the manner of his walk out five years prior.

According to Il Corriere dello Sport Conte, almost certainly likely to get sacked by Tottenham in the coming weeks if not days, wants a return to Italy. Yet the question is where would he go?

The path to Juventus looks a little more likely now, considering Agnelli was forced to step down from the club in light of the on going investigation into financial doping. Yet even still, with Allegri slowly turning the club around following a largely underwhelming 18 months since his return and the Tuscan on a very lucrative contract that would cost the club tens of millions of euros should they sack him a second time, it’s unlikely Conte will land in Turin.

Conte left Inter in the summer of 2021 due to the club’s worsening financial situation and a lack of money to make a serious tilt in Europe. Nothing has changed in that regard, and so Inter can be ruled out. While Inter’s city neighbours Milan are in much better financial shape, the club’s new owners RedBird capital are following the same line of financial prudence that characterised the Elliott Management era, and so Conte would likely complain about a lack funds there also.

Napoli are hardly going to get rid of Luciano Spalletti with the first Scudetto in 33 years within sight and the potential of a Serie A/Champions League double a real possibility. What about Roma? Jose Mourinho could walk away should his ambition on the market not be met by the Friedkins this summer, so it’s again unlikely that Conte will park himself in the capital should purse strings remain tight.

Conte’s reputation remains high despite his appetite for destruction, but he’s increasingly becoming a coach out of many options. Perhaps moving to La Liga or the Bundesliga could represent an alternative. But should his heart be set on a return home, he’ll be forced to scale down his personal ambitions, or just accept joining a team in Serie A with little-to-no money.

And given his history, that seems highly unlikely.