The end of the 2020/21 Serie A campaign marked the beginning of the transfer rumors season.

Some of the hottest names in Italian soccer like Gianluigi Donnarumma and Cristiano Ronaldo have already been linked to new clubs both domestically and abroad. More than the players, however, it is the Serie A managers that have been at the center of sudden transfer moves over the past week.

Antonio Conte’s shocking departure from Inter Milan and the imminent return of Massimiliano Allegri to Juventus are some of the most dramatic changes happening on the touchline of the elite Serie A clubs.

The latest of these surprising announcements came on Thursday night, when major Italian newspapers reported that SS Lazio’s former boss Simone Inzaghi has been chosen to fill the vacant seat on Inter's bench.  

Of the clubs that finished in the top-10 positions of the 2020/21 Serie A table, eight of them have either sacked their coach or watched them leave. Only two managers in this group, AC Milan’s Stefano Pioli and Atalanta’s Gian Piero Gasperini, have not left the team they were coaching a week ago, when Serie A played its final round of the season.

Over the week, Juventus announced the sacking of Andrea Pirlo, with Allegri set to return to Turin after a two-year hiatus in his managerial career.

José Mourinho has agreed to lead Dan Friedkin’s AS Roma for the next three Serie A seasons, while former Napoli’s head coach Gennaro Gattuso has found a new home at Fiorentina, the club owned by Rocco Commisso, the Italian-American CEO of New York-based cable company Mediacom.

Conte shook the Nerazzurri community on Wednesday, when he announced his departure from Inter after a season in which he clinched the club’s first Scudetto in 11 years. 

Conte, whose €12 million/year contract was set to expire in the summer of 2022, has negotiated a €7.5 million severance pay with Inter, as reported by La Stampa. His name has already been linked to English Premier League PINC side Tottenham Hotspur.

Inter’s decision to opt for Inzaghi as Conte’s successor came as a surprise to many, as he seemed poised to renew his stay in Rome. On Thursday night, however, Lazio released an official statement confirming that the manager is leaving the capital.

In his five seasons at the helm of Lazio from 2016 to 2021, Inzaghi hoisted a Coppa Italia and two Italian Supercups. During the 2020/21 campaign, he managed to bring Lazio back to the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 for the first time in 20 years. 

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Inzaghi will sign a two-year deal with Inter for a net €4 million/season plus bonuses.

Inzaghi’s new paycheck will be almost twice the size of the one that he was collecting at Lazio and about a third of Conte’s most recent salary at Inter.

Inzaghi, whose Lazio side displayed an offensive brand of soccer over the last five Serie A seasons, favors a 3-5-2 formation, which is similar to the one employed by Conte in the past two years at Inter. The fact that the Nerazzurri players are used to the tactics of a system with a three-man defensive line could facilitate the implementation of Inzaghi’s soccer ideas at Inter.

Besides aiming to clinch another Scudetto, Inzaghi will be immediately asked to step up Inter’s European game, which for too long has failed to meet expectations.

Ten years have passed since the last time that the Nerazzurri reached the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.