Chelsea baulk at cost of recruiting Enrique
LUIS ENRIQUE’S hopes of succeeding Antonio Conte at Chelsea could rest on whether or not he is prepared to accept a significantly lower wage than he was paid by Barcelona.
Enrique, who speaks English, is keen on the prospect of joining Chelsea and would like to restart his managerial career in the Premier League.
It is believed Enrique was earning in the region of £16.5m-a-year by the time he stood down from his Barça role at the end of last season, having won La Liga twice, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey on three occasions.
That is far in excess of the £9.5m-ayear wages Chelsea rewarded Conte with for winning the Premier League title last season and is even more than Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho earn at Manchester City and Manchester United.
Enrique’s wage demands, therefore, could provide a stumbling block over a proposed move to Stamford Bridge and offer hope to Thomas Tuchel, the former Borussia Dortmund manager, and Maurizio Sarri of Napoli, who are both interested in the Chelsea job and would be much cheaper.
HIGHEST PAID
Conte is the highest-paid manager in Chelsea’s history and the club will not want to pay his successor more than £9.5m-a-year before they have achieved anything with the club.
It is still expected that Conte will leave Stamford Bridge with one year remaining on his contract in the summer, which means Chelsea would also have to pay the Italian compensation until any such time that he found a new job.
Given the fact he is out of work, Chelsea would not have to pay any compensation to appoint Enrique (right) but a compromise over wages would have to be negotiated.
Chelsea hired Conte on £6.5m-a-year with the promise of a big increase if he won trophies and are likely to try to offer achievement-based incentives to their next man, particularly if the club fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Although it is far less than what Enrique earned at Barcelona, Conte’s salary at Chelsea complicates any prospect of a return to his old job as manager of the Italian national team.
Italian federation vice-commissioner Alessandro Costacurta has confirmed Conte is his top target for the vacant national team job, but it is highly unlikely they could get anywhere near to matching what Chelsea currently pay or what might be on offer at Paris St Germain or either of the Milan clubs.
Despite the fact Conte insisted at the start of February that he has no intention of speaking to the Italian federation, Costacurta was quoted in ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’ as saying: “I haven’t chosen yet, but I think Conte is the one who could do the best. I’ll definitely talk with him in a couple of months.”
Other coaches being considered by Costacurta to take over the Azzurri include Roberto Mancini, Carlo Ancelotti and Claudio Ranieri.
Conte coached Italy for two years, during which time he took them to the quarter-finals of the European Championships, before joining Chelsea.
Costacurta added: “He has already shown he knows how to be national team coach while the others haven’t yet.
“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be happy with Mancini or with Ancelotti, although he (Ancelotti) seems to have removed himself from consideration.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)