Chelsea are set to offer manager Antonio Conte a contract extension amid rumours linking him with the Inter Milan job
Italian publication Calciomercato have reported that Chelsea are all set to offer manager Antonio Conte an extension on his current contract. The report comes in the wake of speculation linking the Italian tactician with a return to his homeland to manage Inter Milan.
Well what else can be said about Antonio Conte’s reign at Chelsea that hasn’t been already said? It has been a mere eight months since he took charge at Chelsea, but rarely has any manager has had the sort of immediate impact that the Italian has at the West London club.
There were initial hiccups as Chelsea succumbed to back to back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal, and many had started to predict a repeat of the disastrous 2015/16 campaign when the Blues had finished a dismal 10th in the defence of their Premier League title.
However, Conte has turned things around at Stamford Bridge, and how. Chelsea have only lost once since then and while their rivals have dropped points on a regular basis, the Blues have established a massive seven-point lead at the top of the table, with a game in hand on second-placed Tottenham.
The failures of the previous season are starting to feel like a bad dream, and Conte deserves the bulk of the credit for the turnaround. However, Chelsea received a scare last month when rumours of a possible exit at the end of the season started cropping up.
That was because Inter Milan registered an interest in signing Conte in the summer with reports claiming that the Suning Group were ready to offer the Italian tactician an eye-watering £13 million-a-year package, alongside a £350 million transfer war-chest.
The Nerazzurri’s new owners have lofty ambitions, and they want the club to return to the top of Italian and European football. As a result they have been lining up big money moves for the summer, and they wanted Conte to spearhead their charge.
However, their overtures were turned down by Conte last week, who is not interested in leaving Chelsea any time soon. Despite the positive news on that front, Roman Abramovich has been left uneasy by the speculation, and he is now keen to offer Conte an extension on his current deal.
The proposal is only verbal at the moment, but it is believed that Conte would soon have a formal offer on the table that could see him extend his stay at Stamford Bridge until 2021. So, it looks like Conte’s Chelsea revolution is not coming to an end imminently and he could be extending his stay in West London as well.
