Chelsea: Antonio Conte “transfer” rumours offer nothing attractive for anyone

Antonio Conte is spending as much time in the rumour mill as any of his players. Neither the rumour-makers nor the rumour-mongers have bothered to include any attractive, worthwhile propositions for anyone involved.

After Chelsea blew 1-0 leads in their last two games, the Masters of Narrative are no longer bothering with Antonio Conte’s place in the latest sack-race or whisper about what Roman Abramovich told his barber (as overheard by the cousin of the guy who used to date the social media intern at The Telegraph). They instead have moved on to his imminent departure being a fait accompli, and are devoting themselves to what Chelsea and Conte will do next.

However, the latest batch of rumours reveal a key oversight in these stories. No one has yet made the case of how anyone will benefit by Antonio Conte leaving. And that includes the poor sap who will replace him at Stamford Bridge.

First, the finances. If Chelsea sack Conte they will have to pay him the £9.5 million his contract guarantees for the 2018/19 season. Conte does not strike us as someone who will negotiate a settlement to lessen the financial blow on the club that is firing him. He may even have clauses in his contract demanding additional severance above the balance the contract. Conte renegotiated his terms last summer, when his Premier League title was still fresh yet the sack rumours were already circulating. He would not have signed anything that did not offer him a soft landing.

The Blues are already buckling in the face of transfer market inflation. They lost several pursuits in the summer and January over a few million pounds. Their two highest-priced stars – Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois – are eyeing the bottomless purse at Real Madrid. If the Blues want to bolster key positions in the transfer market, they cannot flush £9.5 million on firing Conte.

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In addition to paying their stars to remain, The Telegraph reports Luis Enrique’s wage demands would also strain Chelsea’s willingness to spend. Enrique supposedly expects £16.5 million a year from whoever employs him next. If Chelsea sacked Conte and agreed to Enrique’s demands they would be paying £26 million in manager salaries next season. That is about one-half of Ryan Sessegnon.

And that assumes Enrique would want the job at any price. Why would anyone want to work for the club that fires Antonio Conte one season after he delivers a Premier League title and then finishes in the top four? Enrique may believe he can do better than Conte. But as Conte, Mourinho, di Matteo, Ancelotti and Mourinho would attest… so what? Unless Enrique is only interested in perfunctorily checking “Premier League title” off his to-do list, he would want more than what Chelsea are willing to offer, money or otherwise.

Italy’s national team is hoping Conte will return and rebuild the Azzurri in their darkest moment of need. However, Conte himself would have to take a significant pay cut to return to his previous employer.

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He is also too young and too meticulous to be satisfied by a national team posting. If he enjoyed it so much he would have stayed through the World Cup cycle – a cycle that would likely contain Italy had he remained. Conte thrives on day-to-day interaction with his players and the twice-weekly passion-fest of club football. He would be bored, unfulfilled and underpaid at Italy.

So to recap… If Chelsea fire Antonio Conte they will have even less money to spend on transfers. They will likely not be able to afford their preferred replacement, so they either break the bank (at the expense of transfers) or settle for a second-best manager. Neither bodes well for Conte’s successor winning more trophies than Conte would have.

For his part, Conte has no desire to return to the place most-touted as an attractive destination. He is not linked to ay other jobs, and no other clubs matching his style and ambition have openings.

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Chelsea very well may sack Antonio Conte at the end of the season. If they do, it will either be an incredible act of short-sighted self-sabotage or it will be under vastly different circumstances than any of the rumours circulating today. If only the former option did not seem so possible.