Conte once (his first summer here) said that he wants Quag in the club as long as he is there, I don't think he was bullshitting or that he doesn't care about his players. He might not want to keep every single player at all costs, but he surely wouldn't dump any one of them just because it doesn't matter who the 5th or 7th choice is. If he was letting Quag go, it was because Quag wanted to go just like Giaccherini, not because he prefers Gilardino. You're obviously right about Conte wanting 5 strikers, but the tone you said it sounds like Conte doesn't give a shit about his players and that Quag is a forward version of Marco Motta to him.
And if Quag was going, he was going to Lazio not AS Roma obviously, that's why I said you're the expert.