Juventus manager Antonio Conte has just ended an era of success in Turin by leaving the club by mutual consent.

While there had been doubts about his future last season, he had been expected to stay on for the final year of his contract.

But what lies behind the decision to part ways and does the Italy vacancy have anything to do with it?

Serie A expert James Horncastle joined us on the line and he laid out some of the doubts which had plagued Conte heading into this summer.

"Conte had some doubts. Those doubts were based on the fact that his three years at the club had seen him win the Italian league Championship three times. He outdid himself in each of those seasons. Quite justifiably in May, he said 'I don't think I can do any better' considering how difficult it is to win the Champions League, it would be unrealistic to win that next year," said Horncastle.

Conte wanted the finances to radically re-alter the team in order to make a concerted bid at European glory.

"But in order to raise that money, the club would perhaps have to sell his best players - one of Arturo Vidal or Paul Pogba. That's something that Conte could not contemplate and perhaps is one of the reasons - but not the reason - why he has left," said Horncastle. 

It is possible that one of those players could be sold in any case as Juventus have hit their ceiling in terms of revenue for the moment.

As for the Italy vacancy, Horncastle also gave his take on the likelihood of Conte being offered - or taking - that international position.

He also looked at the cases of Massimiliano Allegri and Roberto Mancini in terms of replacing Conte and whether they have a realistic chance of putting themselves at the front of the queue, with Allegri not having the best relatiosnhip with Andrea Pirlo and Mancini potentially unpopular with Juve fans based on his time at Inter.