Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte is signed on to stay at Stamford Bridge until 2019, but there have been reports this summer that he’s unsettled. While those reports certainly invite a lot of skepticism, if not outright doubt and disbelief, there has still been plenty of drama for both the Italian and his club.
Chelsea certainly could not have been very happy about Conte’s texting Diego Costa that he’s no longer part of the plan, because that leak drove Costa’s selling price way down. That said, the Blues will no doubt overlook that transgression given how Conte won the Premier League in his very first season at the helm, and he’s now in very high demand.
So much so that ex Chelsea man Frank Lampard, one of the most iconic figures in club history, said that getting Conte locked up for the long term would be the club’s signing of the summer.
“Antonio would be their most important signing — for me he was their man of the season,” Lampard said via Press Association Sport.
“You talk about player of the year, I’m all for giving the players credit but because it was such a dramatic uplift from the year before I think you have to give him huge credit. You saw the system change and how he made them play in that formation, it worked well,” the club’s all-time leading scorer continued.
“I think he’s a huge signing for them. I have no doubts, I don’t know but I’m pretty confident he’ll be there and they’ll bring in players to play in the system he wants to play.”
Lampard may be right about Antonio Conte being the true MVP of the title winning season that just transpired. The main reason Chelsea went from 10th to winning the title by a very comfortable margin is team chemistry, and that’s mostly due to the leadership of Conte.
Chelsea have been linked to Romelu Lukaku, as a replacement for Costa, and are also reportedly closing in on Tiemoue Bakayoko. While those two signings would be a big deal, keeping Antonio Conte around for the long haul would obviously be a much bigger deal.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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