Conte curse BLUES MANAGER ADMITS: I FEAR FOLLOWING MOURINHO AND RANIERI... WIN THE PREM AND THEN GET THE SACK
ANTONIO CONTE fears that he will become the third manager of the defending Premier League champions to be sacked in as many seasons. The Chelsea boss has so far spent £130million in the transfer market. But he has flown home from the club’s tour of Asia concerned that, with a fortnight to go before the new season starts, they have not yet landed all of his targets. While last weekend’s easy Beijing win over Arsenal inspired optimism, subsequent defeats to Bayern Munich and Inter Milan have left Conte sending out an SOS to the Chelsea board.
Jose Mourinho was sacked in December 2015 – eight months after a title win – as the Blues failed to land his summer transfer targets.
Chelsea went on to finish out of the Champions League places, and out of Europe altogether.
Claudio Ranieri (above) was axed by Leicester in February this year, less than 12 months after leading the club to their miracle title success.
Conte, whose men face Arsenal in the Community Shield next Sunday, said: “We know the next season will be tough.
“We want to avoid what happened to Chelsea, when the team finished in 10th place in the Premier League.
“We want to try and avoid this. I want to try to avoid what happened two seasons ago.
“Two coaches have been sacked from Chelsea and Leicester after winning the league. I want to avoid this and the players want to avoid the bad season they had with Mourinho.
“We are working very well and we hope to find the best solution in the future. We have a lot of young players and, if necessary, we will have to try and put in these players.”
Since the end of the season, the Blues have lost John Terry, as well as young defender Nathan Ake and England Under-21 midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah, both of whom quit the club in search of regular football.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, another midfielder, is on loan at Crystal Palace while Kurt Zouma is at Stoke on loan following his injury return.
It has left Conte desperately short on numbers and quality going into the new season.
He added: “We have played against two strong teams, Bayern and Inter, in a period that for us is very important because we’re working hard.
“But we are very tired, because we have had to play three games with the same players.” The west Londoners continue to chase Juventus wing-back Alex Sandro, Bayern midfielder Renato Sanches and Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
They also retain an interest in Everton pair Ross Barkley and Tom Davies, while Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk is another on their list.
Asked about the club’s progress in their search, Conte added: “We have to continue to work. It doesn’t change.”
Alvaro Morata – Chelsea’s new £58million striker – played 64 minutes against Inter, starting on the left as the Blues lost 2-1.
Manchester United target Ivan Perisic scored the decisive goal on 53 minutes.
The Italian side had already taken the lead from the spot in first-half injury time through Stevan Jovetic.
Substitute Geoffrey Kondogbia inadvertently stole the show with an incredible own goal with 16 minutes left. The Inter midfielder lobbed his own keeper from 40 yards out.