CONTE GOING OUT ON LONE
PREMIER LEAGUE Isolated Chelsea boss counts down the days
ANTONIO CONTE is cutting an isolated figure at Chelsea – with the only staff he communicates with now being his fellow Italians.
Starsport can reveal the unhappy manager, at war with the club over their transfer policy, is all but seeing out the season at the west London club.
Nobody at Stamford Bridge expects Conte to be in charge when Chelsea kick off their pre-season tour in Australia at Perth Glory on July 23.
Lines of communication between Conte and director Marina Granovskaia have broken down and he has distanced himself from the academy.
It is understood he has gathered his Italian staff close to him as he sees out his days at the outgoing champions.
Moody
They are assistants Angelo Alessio, Gianluca Conte, his younger brother, Carlo Cudicini, Paolo Vanoli and Davide Mazzotta; goalkeeper coach Gianluca Spinelli; fitness coaches Paolo Bertelli, Constantino Coratti and Julio Tous; and personal trainer/ nutritionist Tibero Ancora.
This season has been a far cry from Conte’s first at Chelsea when he took them to the Premier League title.
Reports have emerged recently of the previously upbeat 48-year-old being bad-tempered and moody as the campaign has floundered.
Starsport revealed last week how owner Roman Abramovich is allowing Conte to stay at the club because the ® main target to replace him, former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique, does not want to start until the summer.
Similarly, former Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel, who like Enrique is taking a break from the game, does not want to come in now to pick up the pieces without being able to change the squad.
Chelsea have won just four of their last 15 games. And after a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United nine days ago, put in a limp display when losing 1-0 at champions-to-be Manchester City on Sunday, where they did not manage a single attempt on goal.
With nine games to go they are five points off Tottenham in the last Champions League spot and face a tough task staying in the competition. They face a last-16 trip to Barcelona a week tomorrow, having drawn the home leg 1-1.
There appears to be something of a stalemate, with Abramovich unwilling to sack Conte and pay him off and the ex-Italy coach refusing to resign.
Conte knows there is a chance of him landing a top job in the summer at either Real Madrid or PSG.
Some fans have even begun to turn against him in the wake of the negative display at City, where Chelsea offered virtually no threat against the league leaders.