Conte: I want pay rise for title success
ANTONIO CONTE is ready to clinch the title and then tell Chelsea: “Pay me what I’m worth”.
The Blues boss needs a win at West Brom tonight to claim the Premier League and is on course to win 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 the 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 return to Serie A.
The 47-year-old said: “If, in the future, we decide to extend the contract, we’ll decide this. It’s not important.
“The money is important only at this level to give the real value of a player or the coach.
“If you show you deserve it, you have earned money. But for me the most important thing now is to win. Then the future is important.
“I have two more years of contract and then it’s important to win and write the history of this club with my players.
“It’s normal to have a lot of speculation around my players and coaches, different coaches, so it’s important not to lose the concentration.”
Chelsea are confident contract talks will be resolved quickly and he will stay but the fact his family have not yet moved to London gives Inter encouragement.
They are expected in the capital this summer and have looked at Italian schools for his nine-year-old daughter.
Only an incredible collapse could prevent Conte adding the title to his three Serie A crowns achieved in successive
JOHN CROSS
seasons with Juventus. And he believes guiding Chelsea to Premier League success from last season’s 10th-placed finish would be one of his best achievements as a manager.
He said: “I like to underline that this season it wasn’t easy at the start because we faced a lot of problems.
“When you arrive 10th in the league it means there’s not one problem, there are a lot.
“The problem isn’t only one person. We started this season to try to find the solution to change the situation.
“I like these situations. With the national team I took over in the worst period. Then Chelsea in 10th, this is another big, big step for me.
“But in my career I enjoy to have this type of big challenge.”
Conte won’t count his chickens and his manner suggests he will only be fully satisfied with a Premier League and FA Cup double.
Arsenal stand in their way at Wembley on May 27 – and a first FA Cup in five years would put the cherry on top of an oustanding debut campaign in English football
Conte said: “It’s a good season and we want it to become a great season and then a fantastic season.”