Chelsea squad said to be playing to get Conte sacked, Granovskaia and Abramovich angry with manager

Before you blame us for covering Chelsea news from the Instagram account of a Brazilian pundit, we better explain it first.

Mauro Cezar Pereira is a reliable journalist who works for ESPN Brasil. But since he’s currently on vacation, he obviously isn’t showing up live on TV, neither is writing for his blog.

That’s why he used his Instagram account to publish some interesting claims. Although he hasn’t claimed the information is exclusive, ESPN Brasil’s website is covering it attributing to Mauro Cezar’s sources.

The report is about Antonio Conte’s situation at Stamford Bridge and the possibility of the manager being sacked in the next few weeks. It’s claimed the crisis first started after the Premier League title at the end of the last season, when Diego Costa was ‘fired’ with a text message.

The problem grew when he took David Luiz out of the team, especially because the defender is one of the leaders in the squad.

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Even though the wins against Tottenham and Manchester United calmed things down, the crisis is said to be back for most of the players. The only one said to be on the manager’s side is Cesar Azpilicueta.

Mauro Cezar claims the squad now does the same as they did with José Mourinho in 2015, when they started losing games until the manager was sacked.

And the problem is not only with the squad. The fact that Conte effectively fired Costa via text message made the striker’s move to China impossible. That stopped the club from making much more money with the sale, and became a reason of rage from Marina Granovskaia and Roman Abramovich.

The journalist says that losing to Barcelona in the Champions League in London would be enough for the club to sack Conte. But maybe if things go bad against Watford, his departure could be sooner. The manager would only have his farewell ‘postponed’ in case Chelsea can beat the Catalan side.

A crise entre o Antonio Conte e jogadores do Chelsea começou logo após o título da Premier League 2016/2017, quando da demissão de Diego Costa via mensagem de texto. O problema cresceu no dia em que ele barrou David Luiz, um reflexo da estranha saída do centroavante. O zagueiro é um dos líderes do elenco. E o clima seguiu piorando. A situação já era ruim em agosto, no começo da temporada, mas a vitória sobre o Tottenham acalmou os ânimos. Voltou a crescer o desgaste e veio o triunfo sobre o Manchester United, em novembro, novamente atenuando a crise, que voltou a se acentuar. A essa altura, o único jogador que ficava do lado dele era Azpilicueta. O grupo hoje faz com o italiano o mesmo que vimos quando perderam jogos até José Mourinho ser demitido, em 2015. E não é só: ao liberar Diego Costa via mensagem de texto, Conte inviabilizou a venda do atacante ao futebol chinês por cifras elevadíssimas. Isso enfureceu Marina Granovskaia, diretora do clube e braço direito do proprietário dos “Blues”, Roman Abramovich, outro que cuspia abelhas africanas após a dispensa do artilheiro. O italiano está isolado. Falta ser batido pelo Barcelona, dia 20, em Londres, pela Champions League, para Conte ser mandado embora de Stamford Bridge. Quem sabe antes, se as coisas forem mal segunda-feira, em Watford? Apenas se surpreendentes atuações acontecerem diante do time catalão, mais uma vez será adiado o adeus do técnico ao campeão da Inglaterra.

A post shared by Mauro Cezar (@maurocezar000) on Feb 2, 2018 at 6:49am PST

There’s been repeated reports in Brazil that Conte sidelining Luiz has led to problems with the Chelsea squad, and there’s also been repeated claims of huge clubs being interested in the defender.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out what’s going on here, and whilst the Brazilian report is likely an exaggeration, based on leaks from an unhappy player, or players, it shows just what Conte is up against.