How much is too much? What do you do once you achieve perfection? Can you carry on further when you know that there isn’t much you can do about it? All of these questions would’ve been on the back of Antonio Conte’s mind before he submitted his resignation from Juventus last Tuesday.
Whatever the reason for his signature, it certainly came as a shock to the players. Club captain Gianluigi Buffon called his resignation a “bolt from the blue”. But, the fact that the club had managed to make the news official, release a video message from Conte explaining his decision and have a statement from club president Andrea Agnelli all within an hour of the story breaking out shows that perhaps the board knew that this was coming and weren’t caught by surprise. In fact, the precise execution of the media plan showed that perhaps both parties had reached an agreement earlier.
Whether it was a surprise or a pre-planned exit, the question of why would he want to leave in the first place is certainly intriguing? After all, Conte was a Juventus legend. He loved the club as a boy and demonstrated that love as he went onto captain and coach the club. He had brought the club unparalleled success as a coach in the last three years.
After two consecutive seventh-place finishes, Conte arrived and immediately transformed Juventus’ fortunes. He adopted a different philosophy, which paid dividends as the Bianconeri became only the third team in Italian football history – after Perugia (1978-79) and Milan (1991-92) to go undefeated in the league. Not only that, it was also their first Scudetto after Calciopoli.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. They won the next season by scoring more goals, winning more games and claiming more points. Last season, was his finest yet, as Juventus became the first team to break the 100-point barrier in Serie A and won all their home games. They won three-straight League titles for the first-time since 1933, making it a season to remember.
But, once the season was done and dusted, Conte frankly admitted that it might not get any better. Without major investment, he realised that the squad might not go too far. His Champions League failures were there for all to see and although he wasn’t hung out to dry in Italy, being the perfectionist that he is, Conte realised that the squad needed overhaul. But, Conte also knew that given the financial stature of the club at the moment, he had to sell and break up the current squad to have the money that he wanted, something that he no doubt, dreaded.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons for his exit. But that might not be the only one. The timing of his departure is certainly curious. It shows that Conte, who didn’t want to sign a contract extension beyond 2015, tried to stay at the club, but couldn’t quite bring himself to it. Especially when he knows fully well that it would be nigh on impossible to maintain the current standards without significant investment in the squad.
Or perhaps, just like Guardiola, Conte also needed a break. For there are few who lives and breathes football much like Conte does and the past three seasons might have taken its toll on the Italian. After all, one can only spend so much time barking out orders and thinking about the team and the tactics.
While Conte might well take a sabbatical from football, the vacant Italian hot-seat might just have prompted his decision. After all, there are few greater honours than coaching your country and the added challenges that comes along with it.
Maybe he needed a fresh challenge. Maybe he just needed a break. Maybe he realised that it might not get better than this. Whatever the reason, Juventus have lost a key part of their recent success, someone who might be more valuable to them than both Pogba and Vidal. As Buffon rightly said, the club has certainly “lost the emblem of our renaissance” and how they deal with their loss will depend on how Massimiliano Allegri takes to life at the Turin club.