There is a lot of speculation surrounding Antonio Conte’s future at Chelsea Football Club and as they always do, rumours are flying around about who will replace the Italian when his time is up at Stamford Bridge.
One of the names that has been heavily linked to the Blues’ technical area is Luis Enrique. However, the former Barcelona manager has said that he definitely won’t make a move in the middle of the current season, despite failing to rule out a move to London at the end of the campaign.
Enrique’s reason for waiting is that he doesn’t want to get involved in a new job without the support of his trusted coaching staff. Juan Carlos Unzue, Robert Moreno, Rafel Pol and Joaquin Valdes were all at his side during his three-year spell with Lionel Messi and co. But, as the 47-year-old decided to have a brief break after his contract ran out at the Camp Nou, his three amigos chose to take control of Celta Vigo, with Unzue taking the role of manager. The worry is for La Liga’s eighth-placed side that they will lose the key members of their coaching team at the end of the season if and when Conte leaves Chelsea.
Despite Roman Abramovich saying he is currently backing the former Juventus boss, if results get much worse for the Premier League champions, he could be forced into looking for a new manager to take the reigns. Chelsea have picked up just five points from as many league games and their grip on the top four could be taken from them over the weekend before they even play their match, which is against West Brom on Monday evening.
Antonio Conte is confident himself that he is not under any threat in terms of his position but back-to-back losses against Bournemouth and Watford may beg to differ. He might only have a matter of weeks left in West London as his employers may already be sourcing their replacement; surely Guus Hiddink won’t return once again for his usual interim role!
Header image by football.ua [CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
