It seems unlikely that Antonio Conte will be appointed as Arsenal’s new manager any time soon. The Italian players’ agent Federico Pastorello, who maintains close contacts with the clubless trainer, denies on Sunday that Conte has already signed a pre-contract with the ailing London club. Arsenal started the new Premier League season with three defeats, which has brought the position of manager Mikel Arteta into question.
The rumors about a preliminary agreement between Arsenal and Conte are ‘absolutely not true’, Pastorello said in a response to freelance journalist Freddie Paxton on Sunday. There has not even been any contact at all between the board of the Gunners and the former Internazionale coach. Stories recently appeared in the English media that Conte had already reached an agreement in principle with Arsenal, but that does not appear to be true.
Conte guided Inter to the first Scudetto since 2010. A few weeks after the triumph, it was announced that the trainer had canceled his ongoing contract at the Giuseppe Meazza. Reportedly, the Chinese owners wanted to spend less on new players, which apparently did not go well with Conte. It would have been agreed upon termination of the contract that Conte would not join another Serie A club this season, although he can still work abroad.
Conte, who left Inter a few months ago, has previously worked in the Premier League. Between 2016 and 2018, the coach was at the helm of Chelsea, during which time the league title and FA Cup were won. Despite the overall victory in the national cup tournament, Chelsea’s leadership decided to evict Conte in July 2018. It was later announced that Chelsea had lost around thirty million euros to pay off the ongoing contracts of the Italian elector and his coaching staff.
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