Antonio Conte is reportedly keen on securing a reunion with Marcos Alonso at Inter, but Chelsea don’t want to sell the Spaniard.
The Italian tactician has been busy stamping his mark on the squad that he inherited from Luciano Spalletti this summer, as he hopes to ensure the Nerazzurri are in a position to try and topple Juventus in Serie A and compete in the Champions League.
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That has led to the signings of Valentino Lazaro, Nicolo Barella, Stefano Sensi and Diego Godin among others thus far, but Conte is seemingly still looking for more reinforcements.
According to Calciomercato, via the paper edition of Tuttosport, Inter have set their sights on Alonso, but it’s specifically noted that Chelsea have no interest in allowing him to move on this summer.
The 28-year-old was crucial for Conte during his two-year spell in charge at Stamford Bridge, as he made 81 appearances across the two campaigns.
Alonso lost his spot to Emerson Palmieri in the back-end of last year under Maurizio Sarri, but he’ll hope to get back to playing a fundamental role under Frank Lampard in the upcoming campaign.
In turn, with that pair set to battle it out for a starting berth to give Lampard enough quality and depth in that department to rotate and cover for injuries if necessary, it seems logical to avoid selling Alonso as he will have an important part to play.
That will be a disappointment for Conte though, and he may well be forced to look elsewhere to address that issue in his squad.
Inter do have Kwadwo Asamoah and Dalbert to play that role, and so time will tell if that’s now considered enough by the former Italy boss or if he does indeed try to identify an alternative to Alonso.
