It’s starting. Rumours about Antonio Conte’s Chelsea future have been around since the Italian took the job at Stamford Bridge, but there’s certainly a feeling that things are now more serious, and change could be on the way.
Stories are building around the European media, and whilst it may be easy to state individual claims may not have a lot of merit, it all feels very familar.
Even Spanish newspaper Marca have got involved, explaining Roman Abramovich has taken annoyance with Conte, and once that happens there’s only one ending to the Chelsea story. Movement is expected, it’s just a question of when.
Marca believe Abramovich became annoyed with Conte last summer, feeling the way he handled his side of the Diego Costa mess showed ‘disrespect’ to the club’s organisation. That led to a ‘broken’ relationship, and it’s explained the Chelsea owner now hardly speaks to his Italian manager.
That, point out Marca, has happened with a string of managers before, and the outcome afterwards is inevitable.
