Claudio Ranieri has been speaking to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport and, perhaps naturally, the conversation came around to Chelsea.
With claims Antonio Conte is living a ‘nostalgia’ to return to Italy, Ranieri was asked about the manager’s situation at Chelsea, and first moved to knock down such thoughts.
“The Premier League remains the top and I’m not so convinced of Conte’s nostalgia,” explained Ranieri before suggesting that if Conte is unsettled, it could be more to do with the summer transfer window.
“Maybe he expected a different market, but Abramovich hasn’t been crazy for some years. Manchester City and United have made big purchases, so I can imagine that for Antonio fighting multiple fronts with the same players is more labour-intensive.”
Chelsea signed Alvaro Morata during the summer window, so weren’t without their own big deal, but there’s every chance Conte wanted, and expected, more. During the Italian manager’s time at Juventus he never seemed to be completely happy with the club’s spending, and ultimately the fractures led to his departure.
Conte’s huge ambition for improvement, year on year, comes with benefits for club owners, but it also comes with a cost, and maybe the manager and Abramovich aren’t quite agreed on what that cost should be.
