On the same day that Deloitte’s Money League, a ranking of the most lucrative football clubs in the world was released, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte lamented what he sees as the monetary limitations of his club. Conte claims Stamford Bridge just doesn’t have the financial power to match the Manchester clubs, and in some ways he is certainly right.
On the other hand, Chelsea is a huge club in its own right. Manchester United topped the list of top income producing clubs in the entire world, with Manchester City placing fifth and Chelsea coming in eighth.
Conte patted himself on the back for winning the Premier League title last season, a feat he deems a “little miracle” given the spending power of the two Manchester clubs.
“Last season I think we did a fantastic job and did a little miracle,” he said.
“This season is showing this. In this moment there are two teams in this league who are ‘top.’ They stay there. The others have to fight for a place in the Champions League (for the next year).
“Now it’s not simple to think about (getting ahead of them in the standings) because these big teams continue to improve and invest a lot of money. Then if you continue to have this type of gap…it’s not only here in England. These two big clubs can become seriously dangerous for other teams in the world.”
City are currently 12 points ahead of United for the top of the table, and 15 ahead of third place Chelsea. Conte then referenced the Alexis Sanchez-Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap deal, a transaction that will now make the Chilean the most well paid player in English history. Chelsea had been linked to Alexis this January transfer window, but the Italian maintains that his club was never really in the running, and simply never had the financial resources to compete.
“These two teams are very strong already and want to invest,” Conte continued.
“It’s the same, not only for Alexis Sanchez. Only one or two clubs can pay this type of salary. Also, if you want a player, you are faced with this reality. We never were in this race (to acquire the Arsenal forward). Ever. One of the reasons was this amount of salary.”
Although Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have only been at their respective clubs for two years, they have always wielded big sticks in the transfer market. Mourinho became the first manager to exceed £1 billion spent on new players, and Guardiola is clipping along at even faster rate, to the point that he could see surpass Mourinho in total amount spent on players before long.
City had a £200 million summer transfer window in 2017. Conte went on to say that he needs time to build his side up to the level that it can compete with the Manchester clubs.
“The past can be one way, the present can be in another way, the future can be in another way. The situation changes. What happened three years, 10 years or eight years ago was totally different,” he continued.
“Now I think that we have to fight with our work. I think last season we won the league and reached the FA Cup final and we finished with a profit of £50 million in the transfer market. In the past, this had never happened. For this reason, the situation changed. When the situation changes, you have to fight to try to give all of yourself for Chelsea.”
“Now I think Manchester United and Manchester City stay there and we have to try and build something important to create a basis, and then make success with our work. Not with money. With work.”
Now the question remains, will Conte get to keep his job if he doesn’t win silverware this season? Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been notoriously sack happy in recent years.
“I trust in my work,” he continued.
“And I think that, if I stay here it’ll be because the club trusts in my work. And not only the money. You can do two types of football: Only with money and you pay a lot and take the best players; the other way is to try and put a bit of money in and then hard work. We are in the middle. We are working and trying to do our best during the transfer market.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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