Chelsea fans will be loving the impact of Antonio Conte at the club since he took over in the summer and it is getting only better with time. The start was a bit shaky but a stunning eight-game winning streak in the Premier League has helped the Blues to put themselves at the summit of the table.
The West London club are three points clear at the top of the table and if they can keep up their amazing form, Conte might get to taste Premier League triumph in his maiden season in England.
Well, no matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement and it is a quality of champions of trying to improve rather than just celebrating the success they have achieved. Antonio Conte is no exception. According to Italian football website Calciomercato, Chelsea are reportedly preparing a €45 million (£38.3 million) offer for Fiorentina attacker Federico Bernardeschi in summer.
Bernardeschi’s talent is pretty well-known to Conte from his time as the manager of Juventus and the Italy national team. In fact, he was the one who handed the flamboyant Italian his senior debut for the Azzurri.
Italian players have not been the most successful in English football over the years but at Chelsea, the story has been otherwise. The case in point is Gianfranco Zola. And, with his countryman Conte in charge of the Blues, Bernardeschi could prove to be a big success at Stamford Bridge.
Bernardeschi is a highly versatile player despite his young age and has been in a sublime form for his boyhood club Fiorentina this campaign. From 19 games in all competitions, the 22-year-old has scored eight times while setting up one. The Italian international is capable of plying his trade across the three attacking midfield positions and such adaptability will come in handy.
The Italian international has played mostly on the left flank for Paulo Sousa’s side this campaign but has also done justice as a number ten or as a right winger. His good eye for goals help him to ply his trade as a number nine as well. You’d rarely get to see a footballer with a frame of 6′ having a better technique and ball control than the highly-rated attacker.
A quick, strong, technically gifted, and hard-working left-footed player, with a good positional sense, Bernardeschi could become a big success at Chelsea in the long run. At the same time, he would give Conte the license to switch his tactics during the game. In many ways, he could prove to be a pivotal player for the Blues in coming years if this deal indeed goes through.
