CONTE WILL LOSE IF HE STARTS A POWER STRUGGLE WITH ROMAN
THE relationship between an Italian with a habit of storming off in a huff and a clinical board which has fired some of the finest managers in modern football was never likely to be silky smooth.
Antonio Conte arrived at Chelsea courtesy of the 11th managerial change of the Roman Abramovich era; proof in itself that managers are expendable in SW6, even those who are valued and adored.
Over 14 years, Abramovich’s club has been stress-tested to the rigours of instability in the dug-out.
Managers have come and gone – some more than once – but the major trophies have never been too far away. And this forms the basis of Chelsea’s executive philosophy.
It is also the reason Conte, darling of the fans after his magnificent leadership in his debut season, will lose if he picks a power struggle at Stamford Bridge.
He may think he is doing it for the right reasons, agitating for transfer activity to create a team capable of making an impact in the Champions League after winning the Premier League.
But it is perilous to annoy Abramovich or his inner circle: director of football Michael Emenalo and directors Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenenbaum.
They certainly did not appreciate Conte’s decision to intervene with a text to Diego Costa, telling him he was not part of plans.
Nor his persistent attempts to add another of his trusted Italian allies to the coaching staff as a replacement for Steve Holland.
Conte often clashed with the Juventus board over transfers before handing in his resignation because they failed to secure the bigmoney signings he was after.
He wanted Gonzalo Higuain, who joined Napoli from Real Madrid, and Juan Cuadrado, who later joined Chelsea from Fiorentina.
When Conte left London after the FA Cup final last month, he had virtually agreed the the terms of a new contract worth £9.5 milliona-year and yet he made it clear his squad needed strengthening.
Chief targets included Romelu Lukaku, Virgil van Dijk, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alex Sandro but Chelsea have been slow off the mark – in contrast to Manchester City and Manchester United.
City snapped up Bernardo Silva from Monaco and Ederson Santana de Moraes from Benfica.
United have signed Victor Lindelhof from Benfica and are closing in on Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid. Andrea Belotti of Torino is another striker admired by Conte who is set to move elsewhere but Chelsea settled on the pursuit of Lukaku.
Everton, however, are holding out for £100m and Chelsea’s negotiating stance was damaged by the rogue text from Conte to Costa, which confirmed they were desperate to sell and more desperate to buy.
Costa is happy to leave if he can rejoin Atletico Madrid, who are happy to have him but banned from signing players until the end of the year. This leaves Chelsea with the problem of finding him a home, at least for six months.
Conte would like greater control over the transfer policy but is not going to get it. He has his input as part of the committee.
Talks are continuing for Bakayoko of Monaco, although the deal has been complicated and the price driven up by interest from United, and for Juventus left back Sandro.
Conte is not expected back in London until the start of next month but he is finding it impossible to sit idly by on his sunbed and watch the market unfold.
Barely a month has passed since they were lifting the Premier League trophy but this has not been a good start to the summer market for the champions.