CONTE REBOOTED
In his first interview since signing a new contract, Chelsea’s manager on how close he came to quitting, and why he axed Costa
IT IS almost two months since he disappeared with the Premier League title won. Even though the FA Cup was conceded in the final, most could agree that it had been a remarkable first season in England for Antonio Conte. If it wasn’t unprecedented to do what he did, it was unexpected to take the team that had come tenth, and the players who were then humiliated by Arsenal in late September 2016, to such heights.
Since then, much has occurred to worry Chelsea fans: the fall-out with Diego Costa, doubts over signing a new contract which, when it came, was an improvement in salary rather than an extension; and whispers of frustration over recruitment, especially when Romelu Lukaku ended up with his predecessor Jose Mourinho at Manchester United.
But, tanned, healthy and fit, Conte strolls into the dining room of the Intercontinental Beijing with that sheepish grin, looking like a man for whom a month’s break has refreshed and revived him.
He gently begs to differ, saying: ‘For a coach, it’s very difficult to rest because you stay with your phone and then you have to call, to wait for news about the club. It’s not easy to rest completely.’
That said, he is relaxed yet focused, intent on delivering key messages as the turbulent trajectory of the last two months becomes clear. He would say he is settled: the contract agreed, the new players being signed and the future is there to be built.
But nothing is ever wholly smooth. Costa, the club’s leading scorer last season, will be leaving after the infamous text exchange with the manager. But Conte is adamant that no one, least of all Costa, should be surprised.
‘I want to clarify the situation,’ he says. ‘In January, the situation was very clear for the club, the player, for his agent, that when we arrived in June, then it would be finished. I took this decision in January.
‘I didn’t take the decision in June or in May. The club knew this, the player knew this decision, his agent knew this decision.’
And he insists Chelsea fans should not fret that Costa is leaving, saying: ‘Now we have to build with the new players and with these players you won two leagues and arrived once in tenth. The most important thing is the team, the squad and it’s important now to be together. You can’t just lose it after one player.’
It helps that Alvaro Morata has been signed for what could be £70million from Real Madrid.
‘I wanted him when I was at Juventus,’ says Conte. ‘He was very young but now, with experience at Juventus and Real Madrid, he is ready to come to Chelsea.’
But didn’t he prefer Lukaku? ‘It is not important to say,’ he adds. ‘Both players were first choice for a great club like United or Chelsea. It is not right to tell. For me, Lukaku and Morata are at the same level,
We don’t have a lot of space to make mistakes...
first choice for a great club.’
Certainly Morata seems to fit Conte’s system somewhat better; his work rate will certainly be less of a concern.
‘He made a good step forward since three years ago (when Conte last tried to sign him), now he is one of the best strikers in Europe,’ says Conte. ‘He has great potential, he can improve and last season he scored 20 goals (in 19 starts).’
Morata and Antonio Rudiger, the centre-half signed from Roma, will arrive in Singapore next week on the next leg of their Asian tour. Tiemoue Bakayoko, also signed, will stay at Cobham to undergo rehabilitation on a knee injury. But the squad is coming together.
‘Rudiger and Morata will arrive, maybe someone else,’ says Conte. ‘I hope. I know very well that the club is working strong, very hard to try to make me the best way to work.’
If things seem to be moving in the right direction now, Conte doesn’t deny his feelings were a little more ambiguous back in May. Asked if he had doubts about continuing at the club having won the league, he pauses, before saying: ‘It was important for me because it was my first season in England and it was important to understand my situation in all aspects, okay?
‘I enjoyed the season. It was tough for me and my family. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes you think that everything it easy but it wasn’t to win and to have this type of season.
‘Now I decided with the club to continue. We find the right view about the future of this club. We are a great club but we can’t make a mistake because it’s dangerous. We don’t have a lot of space to make mistakes. We need to improve and increase our squad and to be something important for the present but also for our future.’
It seems Conte needed to be reassured that both he and owner Roman Abramovich were of the one mind.
‘It is important to explain your idea,’ adds Conte. ‘It’s important that the club understand your idea and the club is ready to try together and to be this solid foundation. I can want this, but if I’m alone it’s very difficult to do this.’
Pressed on whether that meant he considered leaving, he demurs. ‘My decision was always to stay,’ he says. ‘Our job is not simple and anything can happen. But my desire, and the club’s, was to continue and, for this reason, I renew a new deal.’
He is committed. Next season his wife, Elisabetta and nine-year-old daughter, Vittoria, will be with him. They are currently house-hunting and Vittoria has her place at school; the relief of having his family around him is almost palpable.
‘To stay another season without the family would be hard,’ he says. ‘My family is important. I think it shows my commitment to the club, with this project and try, I repeat, to build something important.’
He insists that he is happy that the new contract he has signed hasn’t seen his time at the club extended; it still ends in 2019. That, he says, keeps an appropriate amount of pressure on him.
‘When we finished last season and you were asking about my contract, I told you that I have two years to go,’ he says. ‘This is the right way, to continue to give me motivation.’
He knows what the expectations will be, saying: ‘The target is the same but it won’t be easy, because you can see the other teams are trying to reinforce themselves and we are changing a lot.
‘We are buying top players because we need to improve our squad because last season we played regularly with 13 players.’
The arrivals of Rudiger, Bakayoko and Morata cannot be the end of summer business.
‘We lost a lot of big players. Last season was John Terry, and then (Branislav) Ivanovic, (John Obi) Mikel, and in the last few years we lost (Didier) Drogba, (Petr) Cech, (Frank) Lampard. A lot of players that were fundamental here.
‘We are at a point where we need to rebuild these fundamentals.’
My desire, and the club’s, was to stay, so I renew my deal