Earlier on Monday, we covered an article in Corriere dello Sport about Chelsea and Laurent Blanc that revealed the Frenchman was leading the race to replace Conte.
Things were said to be ‘moving forward’, more so than with Luis Enrique, but that until Roman Abramovich sacked Antonio Conte, it was clear nothing more would happen.
Over in France, the status of the reports is very similar, with RMC Sport confirming what had been reported by France Football last week regarding a meeting between Marina Granovskaia and Blanc.
The two parties had ‘discussed the outline of a contract, without finding an agreement’, but that negotiations over the past few days were heading in the right direction, most likely because, on a purely financial basis, the former Paris Saint-Germain manager is the least expensive option for Chelsea.
Deprived of his trusted assistant manager Jean-Louis Gasset, who will continue with Saint-Etienne, Blanc could turned to Franck Passi, who took over Marseille after Marcelo Bielsa’s departure.
As for Antonio Conte in all of this, RMC Sport report the Italian manager has yet to be ‘explicitly told’ that Chelsea will continue without him.
Currently on holiday, he is said to be awaiting news from his employers.
