Conte’s Diego Costa gamble backfires

ONE of the givens of this transfer window was Chelsea re-signing Romelu Lukaku, three years after they decided he wasn’t good enough.

Now it seems as though that the man who decided who wasn’t up to standard, Jose Mourinho, has very much changed his mind and is going to snatch the Belgian from under the noses of his old club.

After spending much of the summer thinking that he was going to get his man, Antonio Conte is now going to miss out. He didn’t get who he wanted last year, and managed to make up for it by taking a team with Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses and David Luiz to the Premier League title.

He’s not had anyone yet coming in that he wanted during this transfer window.

Does all of this put his future at the club in doubt?

At Juventus, Conte often complained that the club didn’t back him sufficiently in the transfer market for his side to make an impact, most notably when it came to challenging in the Champions League.

His complaints were somewhat shown up by the fact that in the first year after he had left the club, they reached the final, but it shows that he is a man who’s not afraid to call out his directors and owners.

This summer he’s been asking for the same from his club, and so far, not much has happened.

However, it’s battle of stubborn versus stubborn in terms of Conte calling out Roman Abramovich and we all know how that will end up.

Either Conte walks or he gets the sack, there’s no two ways about it, not with Abramovich anyway.

His position is further complicated by his relationship with the current incumbent of the centre forward position at Chelsea, Diego Costa.

Conte has already told the Spaniard, via text message, that he’s no longer in his plans for the coming season, even in spite of how much he contributed to the club’s title triumph . - Realsport 101