According to recent reports, Chelsea’s title hopeful manager, Antonio Conte, is a prime target for newly born billionaire Inter Milan. After the legendary Italian club was taken over by a Chinese retail giant, who splashed a staggering £220m for a 70% controlling stake in the side, they now plan to take the club to bigger heights again.
And they are very pleased with the instant success the Italian manager has had in England. Despite repeated rejection by Chelsea, it seems the wealthy owners are adamant in getting him and if reports are to believed, they are willing to give him a luring £10m-a-year contract.
Their urgency and madness is understood to some level. Inter didn’t qualify beyond Europa League’s group stages this season and with the huge money they suddenly have in their pockets, only immediate success is acceptable. Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, their new owners, have vowed to invest similar investments like that of Paris Saint-Germain into the club and would be looking to land some huge stars coming summer.
While retaining Conte will be an obvious action expected from Chelsea, they seem to be reluctant on the scenario developing from the other side. When the 47-year-old was questioned about it before Chelsea’s game with Middlesbrough, he didn’t refuse the possibility but seemed to evade the question.
He said, “At this part of the season there are a lot of speculations about my players, also about me, but it’s not important… The most important thing now is to try and reach our target.” A pretty familiar quote players often say before leaving.
Conte has signed a three-year deal with Chelsea last summer and with the way his first season is panning out in England, he would love to continue his work there. Conte has managed the likes of Juventus, Sienna and Italy’s national team before, but never has he tasted such winning rate as in London.
His best winning rate was with Juventus (67.55%) till he came to Chelsea. This season he has won 26 of the 34 matches he has managed, (which is a whopping 76.48%). Another interesting fact why Inter wants him so badly is Conte’s first season luck. Chelsea isn’t the first such occurrence in his managerial career.
While Juventus could be taken out of the equation because of their immense superiority in Serie A, Conte has achieved a similar feat with Bari after taking over in 2007. He made them Serie B champions in the 2008-09 campaign.
Chelsea have one of the best gaffers at the helm currently and this season is definitely not a one-time occurrence as we have seen with Juventus before. He won three consecutive Serie A titles and back-to-back Supercoppa Italiana with the Old Lady too.
No matter, how one-sided the Serie A has been in the past few years, it hasn’t turned into Scottish Premiership just yet. Competing with the likes of Inter, Milan, Roma, Fiorentina, Napoli and others requires consistency of the highest level; something which Conte is capable of bringing to the side.
