“Forget about it!”
Those were the words of Chelsea’s Antonio Conte on Sunday evening to Sky Sports Italia when asked about him taking over at AC Milan were Vincenzo Montella to get sacked.
Under pressure following a tough start to the season and an expensive summer transfer window, the former midfielder had a lot riding on this weekend’s clash against Sassuolo, which his side won 2-0.
Despite the scrutiny alleviating a bit, the rumours of an exit remain, and Corriere dello Sport advance a rather interesting scenario that Gennaro Gattuso, currently in charge of AC Milan’s youth side, could take over until the end of the season.
Of course, once the campaign comes to an end, his performance would be evaluated, yet the plan would probably be to try and bring in the Chelsea manager, allowing the Italian manager to finish his season at Stamford Bridge in the process.
Antonio Conte has been linked with a return to Italy for quite some time, with many stories circulating this could be his last season in England, but an exit mid-season was always going to be unlikely.
What makes this story a bit more believable, at least in Corriere’s eyes, is the fact that David Han Li, AC Milan’s owner’s right hand man, and Lorenzo Giorgetti, the club’s director of marketing, were both at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to watch Chelsea play Manchester United.
Their official presence was sponsor related, yet the Italian newspaper seem to (want to?) think there’s more to it than that.
With both AC Milan and Antonio Conte denying the rumours, one could think there’s nothing to it, yet neither are, in November, going to admit to anything publicly, are they?
We’ll have to see how things develop over time, but for now, it’s best to just keep an eye on things rather than jump to conclusions.
