Ranieri wants Conte to replace him at Roma

ROME: Claudio Ranieri admitted he would be “super happy” if Antonio Conte succeeded him as AS Roma coach after he took the club into the Serie A top four with a thumping win over Cagliari.

Asked by Sky Sport following his side’s 3-0 win at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico whether he would like Conte to take over from him at the end of the season, Ranieri replied: “Yes, I’d want him.”

Speculation has intensified that Roma are making a serious bid to bring in former Juventus, Chelsea and Italy manager Conte as successor to Ranieri, who came in as interim manager following the sacking of Eusebio Di Francesco in March.

Italian media reports that Roma have lined up a three-year contract worth US$10.6mil (RM43.8mil) a season to tempt him to the capital.

But when pressed on whether he knew anything of Roma’s approach, fellow former Chelsea boss Ranieri said: “I’m the last one to know these things ... if Antonio comes I’ll be super happy.”

Before the match club legend Francesco Totti, now a director, said that “any club would go mad” for Conte, but refused to say whether they had spoken to the 49-year-old, who won the first three of Juventus’ eight straight Serie A titles and the English Premier League and English FA Cup with Chelsea.

“Conte is one of Europe’s best coaches ... with a coach like him you have a project that has a better chance of being a winning one,” he was quoted as saying by Italian media.

“However we have Ranieri on the bench and we need to respect him until the end.

“Right now it’s not appropriate to talk about other coaches.”

Despite a wildly inconsistent season, Roma occupy the final Champions League spot, two points ahead of AC Milan.

They are just four behind thirdplaced Inter Milan, who drew 1-1 with newly-crowned champions Juventus in the Derby d’Italia on Saturday.

Radja Nainggolan gave Inter a sixth-minute lead with a rocket of a volley against a Juventus team missing the likes of Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Sami Khedira.

But Cristiano Ronaldo levelled the match at the San Siro just after the hour mark when Miralem Pjanic’s cheeky back-heel allowed the Portuguese star to hit home a low left-foot shot for his 20th Serie A goal of the season. — AFP