Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
POP AT PEP
I’M STAYING AT CHELSEA SO I CAN HAVE ANOTHER
ANTONIO CONTE has insisted he wants to stay at Chelsea beyond this season.
The Italian has also pleaded with the Blues’ board to stick with him as he bids to lay the groundwork to challenge Manchester City.
Conte will have just one season remaining on his Stamford Bridge contract at the end of the campaign. His bosses are unimpressed the club trail Manchester City by 14 points.
They are unlikely to stand in his way if Conte wants to quit next summer. But the former Juventus boss wants to stay to prove Guardiola’s City can be beaten.
He said: “I have another year on my contract. So in this moment my focus is total. It is total for Chelsea, for my players, to improve my players, to try to improve the team, try to improve the club. To see if I can do this.”
Chelsea’s victory over Southampton on Saturday means they have now won eight of their last 10 Premier League games. At the start of the season, however, confidence was high at the club that Conte could add a third title in the last four seasons.
The 48-year-old, into the Champions League knockout stages, wants the Chelsea hierarchy to look at the bigger picture as they judge his work.
He added: “If you understand football there is a moment you must have great patience, to know that someone is working very well.
“That they are doing a good job. A great job. Then you have to continue in this way. Everyone wants to win. But it can happen, like last season, that you can do a fantastic job for many circumstances. We created a fantastic group of players with great motivation, great desire, to achieve a fantastic result.
“I repeat, last season for me City were superior to us. United the same. Tottenham the same. And Arsenal. But despite this we won the league.
“Now we are trying to work very hard. We are working very hard. It is important to understand this.
“Last season we did a fantastic job. Don’t forget two years ago the team finished 10th. If you remember our transfer market wasn’t impressive.
“We are trying to change the average age of our team. Now I think our team is younger than last season. For a club like Chelsea it is very important to start to do this if you want to create a new base and face the future with confidence.”