Four years to the day from when he joined Inter Milan to replace Antonio Conte, Simone Inzaghi and the Nerazzurri parted ways.

Just 72 hours after Inter’s historic humiliation in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain in Munich, the 49-year-old opted to accept Al-Hilal’s mind-boggling offer.

Inzaghi stands to earn £21.6million net a year for the next three seasons in Saudi Arabia, a four-fold increase on his £5.5m contract at Inter, which was due to run out at the end of next season.

“The time has come for me to say goodbye to this club after four years, during which I have given everything,” Inzaghi said in a statement. “I thank the shareholders for the trust that has never been lacking, and the president and his staff for their daily help and dialogue.

“On a difficult day like today I think it is right to reiterate this sense of gratitude also for the meeting that ended just now. We were sincere and decided together to end this magnificent journey.

“One last word I would like to dedicate to the millions of Nerazzurri fans who cheered me on, cried and suffered in the difficult moments and laughed and celebrated in the six triumphs we experienced together. I will never forget you. Forza Inter.”

Inter have won six major trophies under Inzaghi, clinching their 20th Scudetto in dominant fashion in 2023-24.

However, they have also lost two Champions League finals in three years and have twice come up short when the Serie A title race has gone down to the final day, most recently last month when Napoli pipped them by a point.

Up until April, Inter looked on course to repeat Jose Mourinho’s historic Triplete, only to be knocked out of the Coppa Italia semi-final by the worst AC Milan side in a decade. Then came the Scudetto disappointment and the shellacking in Munich.

And now Inzaghi’s departure could precipitate the end of a cycle for the club who had the oldest squad in Serie A and in the Champions League this term.

Cesc Fabregas was Inter’s preference to replace Inzaghi, but the Spaniard has made clear he sees his future at Como after taking the Lariani to 10th place in his first campaign in Serie A as a manager.

“I started with this club because I was thinking about a long-term project. I don’t want to finish my career at a club with a one or two-year plan that then just ends,” Fabregas said in London on Wednesday, alongside club president Mirwan Suwarso at the SXSW Conference.

“I really believe in Como’s long-term vision; I came here as a player and I’m very, very happy because I can work the way I want to.”

Here, Destination Calcio looks at the possible replacements for Inzaghi.

Cristian Chivu

The Romanian, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport and Tuttosport, is highly rated by Inter’s executives.

A Treble winner under Mourinho in 2010, Chivu knows Inter inside out having spent six seasons at the San Siro as a player before managing their youth teams from Under-14 all the way up through the age groups in the past five years.

He left Inter in February to replace Fabio Pecchia at Parma and won 16 points in 13 games to keep I Ducali in Serie A, showing he is ready for a job in the top flight.

Patrick Vieira

Like Chivu, Vieira would tug at the heart strings as the Frenchman spent four seasons at the San Siro as a player, winning the Scudetto in three consecutive years.

His managerial career, however, is yet to reach the same heights. 

Vieira won 33 points in 26 games after succeeding Alberto Gilardino in charge of Genoa in November as the Rossoblu comfortably secured Serie A status for another season.

Genoa scored more than one goal nine times under Vieira but kept nine clean sheets those 26 outings. The 1.27 points-per-game return, however, was the third-worst of Vieira’s managerial career, better only than his spells at Strasbourg and Crystal Palace.

The 1998 World Cup winner led the Eagles to the FA Cup semi-final in his first season in 2022, but was sacked in March the following year after a 12-game winless run.

His spell at Strasbourg, meanwhile, lasted a single campaign and he was sacked by Nice halfway through his second season after leading them to seventh place in Ligue 1 in his first term in charge. 

Vieira’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation also appears ill-suited to the Nerazzurri, who played with two strikers throughout Inzaghi’s tenure.

Thiago Motta

Motta would make for an interesting choice, considering his Inter past and role in the Treble in 2010. The historical links are there, but does it mean he would make a good choice post-Inzaghi?

At Juventus Motta was handed £170m worth of players, far more than Inzaghi ever got to work with at Inter, and subsequently did little with them.

He used players out of position, struggled for a plan B and was never sure on his captaincy, shopping it around before settling on Manuel Locatelli halfway through the season.

Motta has never utilised a 3-5-2 and the current Inter side is built for such a formation and nothing more.

Could he set his ego aside and stick to a 3-5-2? Or would he make Inter bend to his will?

Motta arguably needs to slide a little further down the table and manage a smaller club to re-establish himself after his experience in Turin. Inter right now would be a huge gamble from both parties.

Raffaele Palladino

Like Motta, Palladino would be available immediately after his surprise departure from Fiorentina at the start of the summer.

Arguably the best young manager in Italian football – Vincenzo Italiano is seven years his senior – the 41-year-old took Fiorentina to a sixth-place finish in his only season in Florence.

Like Vieira, Palladino prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation but his approach is far more adventurous than the Frenchman’s. Fiorentina scored 60 goals in Serie A this season.

Palladino also led Monza to safety in both of his campaigns in Lombardy, an achievement that has become more impressive given the Brianzoli finished rock bottom in the first season without him.

Palladino’s decision to spend £11m on Moise Kean last summer proved a masterstroke, with the Italy international scoring 19 goals in 32 Serie A appearances.

It is the kind of deal Beppe Marotta would have been proud of.