It was all looking good just a few months back for Conte!
The Italian was the toast of the town, as he led Chelsea to a Premier league title in his maiden season in England. Although he came in with a great reputation, Conte was still not expected to win the title so early on in his Chelsea career.
The likes of Mourinho, Guardiola, Klopp and to a lesser extent Wenger were expected to challenge for the title last season. But they all fell to the Italian, as Conte forged a winning team out of a Chelsea side that had finished 10th the season before.
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But Conte has had an infuriating pre-season so far. There have been multiple reports suggesting that the Chelsea boss is furious with the lack of support that he has received from the Chelsea board in the transfer market.
To be honest, there were murmurings of discontent last year as well, as Conte was not able to get any of his first choice players. This summer, Romelu Lukaku was Conte’s first choice striker to replace Diego Costa. But Manchester United beat Chelsea to his signature, leaving Conte red faced and frustrated with his board.
And now, Jamie Carragher has come out and said that he will be surprised to see Conte remain as Chelsea boss in a year’s time.
“I’d be very surprised if I’m sitting here in 12 months’ time and he’s the Chelsea manager.”
“I think he’s the type of manager who won’t accept the involvement from people above, especially on the back of winning the title.”
“He’s not going to go quietly and it’s not great for the club when the manager is coming out and speaking the way he is.”
“What I would say is Chelsea have a business model, a very ruthless one. They’re a bit like Real Madrid in that I don’t think they value the manager like other clubs do.”
“They’re not scared to get rid of a top manager or get rid of someone after 12 months, but you can’t really complain. Since Abramovich came in I think they’ve won more trophies than anyone.”
“They have a model where they have a big say over how that club is run; the owner, Emanalo and people involved there.”
“Maybe that is a frustration for Conte. He wants more players coming in.”
“The Matic deal is a perfect example,” Carragher added. “If you’re a manager why would you want to let him go – especially to a rival?
“But they’ll be saying ‘£45m for a 29-year-old and we’ve got a replacement who is 22’. We don’t know how good [Bakayoko] is going to be, but that has been their business model going forward.
“The success they’ve in changing manager means they’re not going to take anything like that off Conte.
“They got rid of Mourinho, they got rid of Ancelotti and I would be very surprised if he’s here in 12 months.”
