Antonio Conte and Gianluca Petrachi could finally work together at PSG after the Tottenham boss snubbed a move to Roma in 2019.
Both Petrachi and Conte are from Lecce and have been close friends since they played in the Giallorossi youth sector at the beginning of their careers. Francesco Moriero was also part of the same team and played in Ronaldo’s Inter at the end of the 90s.
Conte moved to Juventus in 1991 and spent the rest of his playing career in Turin. Petrachi, on the other hand, was loaned to Nola and Taranto in Serie C. He also played for Torino, Arezzo, Palermo and Nottingham Forest, although he doesn’t have good memories of his time in England.
“I was injured, and they thought I was bluffing,” he told Il Corriere dello Sport last year.
“They called me an ‘Italian mafia member’. There was racism, but speaking Italian was a matter of pride for me.”
Conte and Petrachi never played together again or worked for the same club after hanging their boots. They had a chance to do so at Roma in 2019, but Conte snubbed the Giallorossi’s call to join Inter.
After his move to San Siro, Conte did call Petrachi, but only to ask for Edin Dzeko’s services. “I told him not to bother me,” Petrachi said in an interview with Il Corriere dello Sport in November 2020. “He [Dzeko] had a strong bond with fans, and when I join a club, I am also responsible for fans’ happiness.” The Bosnia international eventually joined the Nerazzurri, but he did when Conte had already left the club in the summer of 2021.
According to reports in France, Hiring Petrachi is one of the requests made by Conte to PSG. The former Inter and Juventus boss is unwilling to work with Leonardo and has already offered a replacement to the club owners. It remains to be seen if PSG will match Conte’s requests, but the 52-year-old is eager to reunite with his former teammate, not only because of their strong bond off the pitch but also given their similar view of football.
Unlimited budget + Neymar, Mbappe, Messi & co.. Plus league games where 75% of the teams have a quarter of the squad value or less so it’s basically a training session which will allow Conte to focus on Europe.. That’s why.