Chelsea are rumoured to be holding talks with representatives of Italy coach Antonio Conte over the possibility of him taking over at Stamford Bridge.
Conte has a good pedigree Chelsea will be looking for. He won three successive Serie A titles with Juventus before becoming the Italy manager in 2014 but his contract ends after this summer’s European Championship. Other managers linked with the Chelsea job include Juventus coach Masimiliano Allegri, Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone and former Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli but Conte has become the overwhelming favourite.
Conte began his managerial career in 2006 at Serie B side Arezzo. It was a turbulent spell in charge, he was sacked after three months, reinstated five months later, and relegated on the final day of the season into Serie C1 in May 2007. Next Conte was appointed Bari manager in December 2007 leading them to a mid-table finish which was a very respectable finish considering they were in a relegation scrap when he joined the club. He then led them to promotion to Serie A in 2009 but he left soon after.
Serie A side Atalanta appointed him as their manager in September 2009 however it was a disappointing spell, winning just three of his 14 games in charge and he left the following January. He then joined Serie B side Siena and guided them to promotion. Juventus hired him as their head coach in 2011 it was his most successful managerial spell. He went on to win three Serie A titles and the Suppercoppa in 2012 and 2013. In the Champions League, the furtherest Juve reached under Conte was the quarter-finals in 2013 and in 2014 Conte resigned as Juventus manager.
During his time in Turin, he won critical acclaim and it brought up comparisons with Jose Mourinho due to his winning mentality and tactics. Conte is used to managing big name players such as Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo and his experience in doing so will be important at Chelsea with the likes of Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas.
Due to Conte’s successful spell at Juventus, he became the Italy manager after the 2014 World Cup and Italy won their Euro 2016 qualifying group ahead of Croatia, Norway, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Malta, winning seven and drawing three out of 10 games. Italy weren’t given an easy group for Euro 2016, they will face Belgium, Republic of Ireland and Sweden in Group E at the tournament in France this summer and it will be interesting to see how Conte does with Italy this summer.