Real, PSG make moves amid ballsy claims over Conte future

Oli Fisher

Suitors are circling for Chelsea boss Antonio Conte as his future at the club remains up in the air, according to reports.

The Italian coach is firmly on the hot seat following the Blues’ 4-1 hammering at Watford on Monday night, with reports suggesting he is close to the sack.

Conte had called on Chelsea’s hierarchy to “prepare a statement…to say they trust me in my work” ahead of another dismal evening for the defending champions, who are now 19 points adrift of leaders Manchester City.

“My position? It is the same. I stay here, try to work and put all myself in the work,” Conte said after the defeat.

“The pressure? Which pressure? What is the pressure?

“I work – if this is enough it is, OK. Otherwise the club has to take another decision.

“I tried to warn everyone about the difficulty of our path in the league and Champions League. We performed very bad but maybe I made the mistakes with the starting XI today.

“My choice was very poor I think. It was very difficult to change something tonight.”

There has been a range of different claims since, with the BBC claiming Conte is safe as long as Chelsea are in the top four, but reports from Spain believe Luis Enrique is lined up as his successor already.

Now, a story in Catalan paper Sport suggests that Conte is deliberately trying to manufacture his exit from Chelsea by challenging the board over his future.

Further to that, Italian paper La Gazzetta dello Sport says he is wanted by AC Milan, Inter and the Italian national team.

However, PSG and Real Madrid are most keen on securing the former Juventus boss and have launched approaches for his services with respective doubts over Unai Emery and Zinedine Zidane.

 

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