Recent rumors hint Chelsea has no idea what to do with a manager like Antonio Conte. The blues will be left holding the bag in the Conte merry-go-round.
Things are dire at Chelsea right now. The club currently sits in fifth with ten games to go. If top four becomes unattainable, Antonio Conte will have to go. The club may push him out the door regardless even with top four.
Except the club has no plan if they chose to go that route. If the club is drawn into the managerial merry-go-round, they will only get off of it as losers.
It is reported that the club’s top target, Luis Enrique, may have wage demands too high for the club. With the top target gone, Chelsea will look to Maurizio Sarri and Thomas Tuchel who are equally available but much cheaper than Enrique.
With all due respect to both, they would be underwhelming appointments. All they really have going in their favor is a pretty style of football and a willingness to play youth. Attacking football has rarely gelled with Chelsea since Jose Mourinho first came to the club. And though the idea of using youth is interesting, it is a gambit that by no means a guarantee of success.
Furthermore, both managers have yet to win anything of note in their careers. Between the two, there is only one lonely DFB Pokal.
So if Chelsea were to let Conte leave, their preferred options would be two underwhelming managers that might work out but have no pedigree to point to if they do not. Meanwhile, Conte has plenty of suitors to pick from.
The most ridiculous of the rumors is that Conte is Italy’s top choice to be national team manager. It is not ridiculous because he is their top choice but because they think they have the chance of rehiring him. Conte is the type of manager that needs a challenge every day. International management does not offer that. He would never have left Italy before the World Cup (had they qualified under him) had he wanted to be an international team manager any longer.
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But the other rumors surrounding the current Chelsea manager are much more telling. Allegedly, both Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid would be interested in Conte’s services if he became available.
On paper, both immediately make sense. The two clubs would want the most available and proven manager on the market. If Chelsea are foolish enough to push Conte out the door, it becomes the Italian. Neither PSG nor Real Madrid would struggle to meet Conte’s transfer demands. And both would appreciate how he whipped a tenth place Chelsea into champions.
The snag for both is the same. Their current managers still have seats. PSG handed Unai Emery one of the biggest transfer windows in history. The expectation for it was to finally bring the Champions League trophy to Paris. That is still a possibility, but not a guarantee. It would be harsh, but the Champions League has been a white whale for the club ever since they rose back to prominence.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid have had a strange season. They have looked like anything but Champions League and La Liga reigning champions. They have struggled out the gate and every matchweek is a struggle. Zinedine Zidane is taking the heat for it and it would not surprise at all to see him go if he ended the season trophyless.
Real would be the ultimate test for Conte. It would be a locker room full of egos, albeit one of the most talented collections of egos in the world. He could ask and receive almost any player he would want. The only downside is that once you manage a team like Real Madrid, down is the only remaining direction to go in.
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So two world class teams want Antonio Conte while Chelsea would kick him out the door for a risky “attacking” option. Whoever ends up with Conte will be a stronger team for it. But if Chelsea are foolish enough to let him go, there will only be one loser in the managerial merry-go-round.