Conte’s a true Blue
ANTONIO CONTE has made peace with the Chelsea board – and admitted that he made mistakes over the Diego Costa text row.
The Italian’s (above) future at Stamford Bridge has been
questioned, following claims of a rift with the Blues hierarchy over the Costa affair and a lack of transfer activity.
“Totally untrue,” said a club source, on suggestions the Blues boss had fallen out with owner Roman Abramovich’s trusted adviser Marina Granovskaia and technical director Michael Emenalo.
The Blues boss has now admitted to the Chelsea hierarchy that the “Textgate” issue was a misjudgement.
“Would they have done things differently, if given the chance again? The answer would be yes,” said a club insider.
Conte, Granovskaia and Emenalo are believed to talk on a regular basis about prospective targets and at least one is close to signing as Conte looks to make use of a £300million budget.
The Blues boss is on holiday at the moment, but is in regular touch with Granovskaia and Emenalo through conference calls.
And suggestions that he was unsettled because his family were still living in Italy last season can also be dismissed.
Conte is planning a long-term stay in west London and has been house-hunting in Surrey with his wife and daughter.
He did not move his family to England last season to allow his daughter to finish her school year.
But the main concern for Conte, Granovskaia and Emenalo is to ensure the Chelsea squad is reinforced to cope with the added demands of Champions League football next season.
It is now increasingly likely Costa will leave, but he has rejected that chance to join the cash-rich Chinese Super League.
To replace him, Chelsea are looking for two new strikers and three names are on the wanted list – Romelu Lukaku, of Everton, Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata and Andrea Belotti, of Torino.
Chelsea are also looking to prise two from Ligue 1 champions AS Monaco – the £50 million move of Tiemoue Bakayoko is thought to be close to completion and Conte is also keen on Benjamin Mendy.
Conte will be also be given the green light to add to the Italian contingent on his coaching staff, following the departure of Steve Holland, who is now part of the England set-up with Gareth Southgate.