It's now official: immediately after the European Championships, during which he will sit on the blue bench for the last times, Antonio Conte will become manager of Chelsea. The latest confirmation came today both from Turin, where the coach lives, and from London: the Lecce coach will join his compatriots Francesco Guidolin (already at the helm of Swansea) in the Premier League and Claudio Ranieri, close to the title with Leicester, as well as coaches of the caliber of Mourinho and Guardiola, both promised coaches of the two Manchester teams.
The London team thus returns to having an Italian guide: the last was Carlo Ancelotti (who in the risk of the bench will replace Pep Guardiola in Bavaria), before him Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Di Matteo, which led the Blues to their first and currently only Champions League title. Conte will bring with him his brother Gianluca, the deputy Angelo Alessio, Mauro Sandreani and the trainer Paolo Bertelli. In Cobham the former Juventus coach, with whom he won three league titles in a row, will then be joined by Steve holland, a precious link with the London environment.
As far as the market is concerned, it is still too early to outline the scenarios: for now Conte has the Europeans in mind, but in any case the team, which this year, barring surprises, will not qualify for any European competition (it would be the first time in it was Abramovich, it will probably have to be refounded John Terry goes for the 36-year-old and has his contract expiring, and other important players like Eden Hazard are experiencing a complicated moment, which could lead to a small revolution but apparently without spending sprees: despite Abramovich's habits, they seem to be excluded for now the assaults on Pogba and Higuain, while Conte would have expressed his intention to lock down Diego Costa. Also targeted - according to the British press - the Roma player Nainggolan (costs 35 million) and the PSG striker Cavani. Starting almost from scratch, as indeed happened to Juventus, to be relaunched after the difficult post-Calciopoli years: the first objective asked of Conte is certainly a return to Europe, and then the possibility of becoming competitive again in Premier League.
On the blue front however, today the coach is in Coverciano to plan work in view of the end-March friendlies with Spain and Germany. As for the European call-ups, almost sure a place for Acerbi in defense, while in attack Bernardeschi is ahead of the pair Insigne-Berardi.
