CONTE FREES HIMSELF TO JOIN CHELSEA

ANTONIO CONTE is free to become Chelsea manager this summer after confirming his decision to quit his role as Italy boss after Euro 2016. The former Juventus manager, who is overwhelming favourite to become the next full-time boss at Stamford Bridge, wants to return to club management when his contract runs out this summer. Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio said: ‘Conte has told me that at the end of the European Championship his experience with us will come to an end. He can hear the call of the training ground, the daily work of training, and that is understandable.’ Guus Hiddink, who stepped in as interim manager when Jose Mourinho was sacked in December, will leave Chelsea at the end of the season. There are, however, some possible stumbling blocks before Conte is announced as the club’s next manager. One is the make-up of his back-room team, with Conte keen to take up to 10 of his aides with him. Another barrier is that he faces a trial, starting on April 4, over his alleged failure to report match-fixing in Italy. The 46-year-old is accused of failing to report that a Serie B match between Albinoleffe and Siena in May 2011 had been fixed — even though he was not involved in the match-fixing itself. Conte (above) denies the charge. If found guilty, he could face a six-month ban, which would complicate his arrival at Stamford Bridge. Meanwhile, Chelsea are set to hand Eden Hazard a mini-break to cure his long-standing hip problem. With Chelsea’s season as good as over, the club’s medical chiefs are reluctant to take any further risks with the Belgium forward and Hiddink hopes a rest will help to heal the problem. Hazard believes he would benefit from a spell out of the Chelsea line-up after nearly 250 games for club and country in four years, but Belgium boss Marc Wilmots wants to call him up for the friendly again Portugal on March 29. With Euro 2016 on the horizon, Hazard does not want to take any risks with his fitness ahead of Belgium’s first game on June 13 — against Conte’s Italy.