Soccer-Inzaghi changed his mind on signing new deal, says Lazio president

ROME (Reuters) - Lazio president Claudio Lotito said that Simone Inzaghi changed his mind overnight about signing a new contract to stay on, ahead of his expected move to Inter Milan to succeed Antonio Conte as coach.

Inzaghi confirmed that he is leaving his role as Lazio coach on Thursday, with the 45-year-old in line to take over at Serie A champions Inter.

Lotito, however, was unhappy with how Inzaghi, who spent 22 years at Lazio as a player and coach, handled the situation.

"I was disappointed on a personal level. He changed his mind from last night to this morning," Lotito told Calciomercato.com on Thursday.

"The contract was all ready, I had signed it. He was meant to meet with secretary (Armando) Calveri to sign it too, but he never turned up. He told me he slept on it and had decided to leave. We spent seven hours together yesterday, we reached the agreement and had even shaken on it.

"He told me that he had no more motivation, that wouldn't have been able to fire up the players. When someone says that, how can you think of keeping him? If he'd told me that the night before, I wouldn’t have prepared the contract to be signed."

Reuters has contacted Inzaghi's agent and Inter for comment.

(Reporting by Peter Hall; Editing by Toby Davis)