Conte tells Blues: Pay me like a champion
Conte claims Chelsea players have had to‘suffer’on their way to winning the title
ANTONIO CONTE is ready to clinch the title and then tell Chelsea: Pay me what I’m worth.
Conte, who needs a win at West Brom tonight to seal the Premier League, is on course to complete the Double in his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge.
But the Italian, who has two years left on his current £5million-a-year deal, gets paid least of all the top six managers, with Pep Guardiola earning THREE times as much at Manchester City.
Inter Milan, who have made Conte their top managerial target this summer, are ready to pay him £10m a year and the ex-Italy boss has refused to categorically rule out a
ANTONIO CONTE claims his players have had to “suffer” to win the title this season.
Chelsea can clinch the Premier League crown at West Brom tonight, keeping them on course for the Double as they face Arsenal in the FA Cup Final.
But Conte admits it has been a tough road to glory, and that starting the campaign with three straight wins did not fool him into thinking the wounds and divisions from last season had been healed.
After the quick start, the Blues suffered back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal and it was only then that they began to really make progress.
Conte said: “It’s impossible to win without suffering. When you work very hard, it’s normal to suffer. I’ve never seen a player who, during hard work, doesn’t suffer.
“I think that, when you suffer, you become stronger and then you are ready to face every situation, above all problematic situations during games.
“We started this season with three wins, but honestly... I wasn’t calm. I wasn’t calm, tranquil. I didn’t see what I was wanting to see.
“But after a bad defeat against Arsenal... after that defeat I understood we had to change something in the tactical aspect and find the right solution, also to improve our work, our tactical work.
“Then I saw my team improving game by game and increasing in confidence in the work. In what we were doing. If you ask me a proper moment when I knew we’d win the title, I don’t see one. I don’t see a moment.
“I saw my team improving, increasing game by game and step by step. For sure, when you play against Manchester City and win the way we did, the confidence improved.
“When you play and win against Manchester United at home the way we did, or when we drew against Liverpool and missed a penalty 10 minutes from the end... yes, the confidence improved a lot.
“These are moments when you understand you can fight for the title, but to win it or not? Until the end we have to fight to win this title.
“Now there is a good opportunity because Tottenham’s defeat to West Ham was, for us, a good one so we could try to win the title before the end of the season.
“Now we have to take three points against West Brom because, otherwise, we’ll have to fight until the end.”
The game changer for Conte was that Arsenal defeat back in September. They were thumped 3-0 and the ex-Italy boss reverted to his natural inclination of a back three.
That tactical switch started with a win at Hull, continued on to a 13-game winning run and that was the platform for Chelsea to put themselves into pole position.
But Conte admits there has been a slice of “luck” with injuries, and not being in Europe has helped too.
He added: “I think this season we are very good, and we are also a bit lucky to have the possibility to avoid a lot of injuries.
“This season we certainly worked very hard, but we are also very good and we are also very lucky.”