I might not be here next year, admits Conte
AnTOnIOCOnTE admits he could leave Chelsea at the end of the season despite having another year on his contract.
Sportsmail revealed yesterday the club are already looking for a replacement, and although Conte insisted he was ‘fully committed’ he added: ‘In football everything is possible. One moment you are here and in another you are in another place and another person replaces you. Everything can change.
‘It is normal for the manager of this club to have this type of situation, even if you won the league last season and reached the final of the FA Cup. This is the history of this club for the manager. I don’t ask to change
First with the news: yesterday’s Sportsmail
it. My only problem is to continue to work and be professional and have good results.’
Max Allegri of Juventus and former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique are among the contenders to take over should the 48-year-old leave after two seasons in charge. Conte, whose side welcome Leicester to Stamford Bridge today, stressed his work would not be judged a failure if he were to leave London before the end of his contract.
He won the title in his first season and was applauded for the tactical transformation of a side who had finished 10th in the previous campaign. Chelsea lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup final and the manager has since become locked in a dispute with the board over recruitment strategy.
Signs of tension surfaced again as he explained why Manchester United and City were right to pursue Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez. ‘We are talking about a top player and you can buy him for a price not so high,’ said Conte ( below). ‘ The amount is around £20million when maybe the normal price for Sanchez is £80-90m.
‘He is a great player and he knows in my first season at Juventus we tried to buy him from Udinese and he decided to go to Barcelona. He knows my admiration for him.’
Asked why Chelsea were not after Sanchez, Conte said: ‘I can give my opinion to my club for every situation, then they have to make the decision that is right.’ He is confident, however, there will be no harm to his reputation as one of the world’s best coaches if he leaves the Bridge this year, and he is tipped to be the next Paris Saint-Germain manager. ‘You must trust in your work,’ said Conte. ‘I am very serene. I trust in my work and what we are doing here in a year- and a half. It wasn’t easy because it was my first experience in another country, but I am enjoying my experience. I am happy in what I am doing now and what I did in the past.’
lCHELSEA’S
£1billion plan for the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge is under threat from a family’s complaint over the ground blocking light to their cottage.
The club fear there is a risk the stadium will not be redeveloped if they cannot overcome the Crosthwaite family’s High Court injunction.