The 9 players Antonio Conte wants to build a Man Utd team around

Antonio Conte’s openness to be considered as the next Manchester United manager has led to reports there are nine existing players at Old Trafford he would be happy to build a team around.

Conte has a reputation of shaking things up when he arrives at club, having been afford considerable squad investment at both Chelsea and Inter to build winning teams there.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer under pressure following United’s 5-0 humiliation at home to Liverpool last weekend, but thought to have three more games to save his job, Conte has been billed as a potential replacement as a proven winner in both Serie A and the Premier League.

90min understands that Conte would be interested in holding talks and is open to exploring the possibility of taking over at Old Trafford should he be approached. There are, however, concerns from both sides that he wouldn’t necessarily be the right fit in terms of philosophy and he isn’t holding his breath waiting for a call from Manchester.

That being said, if Solskjaer is sacked and Conte does end up in charge of United, a report from Gazzetta dello Sport claims he has already identified nine players in the current squad he would like to work with and potentially build a team around.

That list of nine is Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane, Alex Telles, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford.

That list noticeably excludes current United captain Harry Maguire, as well as Luke Shaw, who has made a poor start to the season and has been inconsistent throughout his time at Old Trafford.

It is also telling that Conte potentially sees a future for Martial, a player whose future has grown uncertain under Solskjaer as a result of underperforming for over a year.

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