Reason Why Antonio Conte Wants To Leave Chelsea Next Summer
Reuters / Lee Smith
Antonio Conte is still taking the thought of leaving Chelsea into serious consideration, according to Sunday Times.
The Italian boss has been keen on a return to the Serie A of late, and has admitted in a recent interview that it won’t be long before he is back in his hometown. He reportedly told Italian broadcaster Radio 1: “I miss Italy, that’s beyond doubt, so once I have had some important and life-changing experiences, I will be back.”
But rather that just homesickness, there is a deeper story to the matter. Over the summer, a number of targets were set in place by Conte, who informed the Chelsea board of his desired additions to the squad for the current Premier League season.
However, one by one, he watched a majority of his initial targets end up elsewhere – most notably Romelu Lukaku. Nemanja Matic, a pivotal player to Chelsea since he moved from Benfica, was also allowed to depart to Old Trafford.
The ex-Juventus boss grew disgruntled at the poor support being afforded to him, and actually intended on resigning this summer itself, despite just coming off the back of an incredible first season at Stamford Bridge, where he led his team to the Premier League title by a landslide.
Conte is known for suddenly deciding to quit, but Chelsea were aware of this fact, which is why they inserted a clause where he had to pay a hefty penalty if the club were to terminate his contract – somewhere in the region of £20 million. As a result, he was forced to stay against his will.
The whole Diego Costa situation also brought a lot of criticism onto the 48-year-old, yet he received no public backing from Roman Abramovich and his board, which frustrated the manager even more. He is still keen on a move away from the Bridge, with Inter Milan said to be interested.
Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti, who managed the Blues between 2009 and 2011, is set to be Conte’s replacement, having been relieved of his Bayern Munich duties earlier this week.
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