Recent reports have emerged, linking Chelsea to Atletico Madrid manager, Diego Simeone. The Premier League side is looking for Antonio Conte’s replacement and has pegged the Argentine to be the best candidate. With Roman Abramovich at the helm, managerial changes are almost a season thing and the next summer we might just be witnessing another one.
Like clockwork, they start up almost every year, if not every six months or even six days. As Conte has become fond of saying, the rumours surrounding him date back to at least the start of the season, though in reality, they started well before then, just a couple months into his tenure.
It is rare to see a manager lead their side to two Champions League finals in three years especially with the pressure of two dominant powerhouses – Real Madrid and Barcelona in the same league as you. Only Simeone was successful in breaking up La Liga monopoly and win the title back in 2013/14 season.
The Los Colchoneros should have won one of those Champions League finals against the Galacticos, losing one in extra time after a late Real Madrid’s equaliser took it to an added 30 minutes and the second time to the same opposition on penalties, cruel indeed. Simeone has long been linked with a move away from Atleti, especially after their second final loss, but he wanted to be in charge this season for Madrid’s first season in their new stadium.
Conte has rejected the idea that he wants to become Italy manager again after Alessandro Costacurta linked the Chelsea boss with the vacant role. The Italian also said he wants to see out the remaining 18 months of his deal at Chelsea.
However, despite that claim from last season’s Premier League winning manager, it is still expected that he and Chelsea will split at the end of the season. The entire rift between the Italian and the Chelsea management has been quite well portrayed in the media. After Michael Emenalo stepped down from his post as the technical director of the Blues, everything was made clear as to the dysfunctional relationship Conte has with the Chelsea board.
But it looks like Simeone, who is their first choice, will not be the man to replace the former Juve boss. The reports say that Simeone prefers the Latin lifestyle so a move to Italy, possibly with Inter, would be his preference.
His lack of English is one of the reasons he wouldn’t want to move but the report says that it wouldn’t be a factor if United wanted him. His current deal and Jose Mourinho’s new deal both finish in 2020. United have already enquired into signing him once when David Moyes was knocked out of the Champions League with United but at that point, he wasn’t ready to commit to a move and the Red Devils ended up with Louis van Gaal instead.
