Antonio Conte has reportedly hired an Italian scout to work for him at Chelsea. According to an exclusive from Tutto Mercato Web today, Luca Cattani is joining the club.
Catani has previously worked as a director of sport for Italian sides such as Palermo and Novara, and now joins Chelsea as one of the biggest challenges of his career.
Although the website doesn’t really mention what Catani’s focus will be, the obvious guess is Conte is trying to expand his scouting network in Italy.
Since the manager took the Chelsea job last summer, the club have been linked to several players from Serie A, but still haven’t managed to make any huge signings from the country. Marcos Alonso arrived in a relatively low key deal from Fiorentina, and has gone on to impress, so it could be a route Conte chooses to follow.
Chelsea have been mostly linked to the obvious targets in Italy, such as Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Lazio’s Stefan De Vrij. Not the kind of players you need a big scouting work to find.
Perhaps Chelsea are looking for Catani to identify some of the less obvious opportunities on offer.
