Paper talk: Arsenal scout Italian wonderkids, Conte’s Chelsea future under threat amid Italy return rumours

27 feb 2017

Arsenal scouts were spotted at Reggio Emilia’s Mapei Stadium yesterday to watch Sassuolo-Milan, according to a report of Tuttosport. The Italian paper claims that representatives of the Gunners wanted to monitor the performances of Matteo Politano, Domenico Berardi and Lorenzo Pellegrini (Sassuolo) as well as Manuel Locatelli (AC Milan) although the latter failed to enter the pitch and spent the whole game sitting on the bench.

Berardi is also a transfer target of Inter, Juventus and Chelsea but the Italian starlet failed to impress yesterday having also missed a penalty in the first half. His teammate Politano, on the other hand, played a better game creating all sort of troubles to the rossoneri defence thanks to his pace and technique. Pellegrini also played a good game but the Italian midfielder can be bought by AS Roma for just € 10 million at the end of the season as he’s a product of the giallorossi academy and the Serie A giants have a buy-back clause that they can activate by the end of the season.

Tuttosport also reports that Antonio Conte’s Chelsea future is under threat as representatives of Suning Group (Inter new owners) have made contact with the Italian tactician over a possible return to Italy. La Repubblica confirms the report claiming that Conte is not happy in London and is struggling to settle in well in the capital of England, not to mention that he’s not on really good terms with the Blues’ owners Roman Abramovich.

Conte will be due to pay a € 30 million termination fee, should he decide to cancel his Chelsea contract which is due to expire in June 2019. Inter have put Conte on top of their manager shortlist as Pioli’s future would be under threat in case he fails to qualify for the Champions League this season.

AND THE REST

Juventus have put Inter, Chelsea target Federico Bernardeschi on top of their transfer shortlist (La Stampa)

Barcelona are considering hiring Max Allegri as their new boss (various)

Mino Raiola claims his client Gianluigi Donnarumma ‘deserves to play for a big club’ (Sky)

Chinese consortium Sino-Europe is set to complete the takeover of AC Milan on Friday (Corriere dello Sport)

An undefined American group is set to acquire a majority share in Serie A relegation candidates Palermo (Corriere dello Sport)

AS Roma star Radja Nainggolan will be offered a pay rise by his club to ward off interest of Chelsea & Inter (exclusive, cm.com)