Antonio Conte: Only way I will leave Chelsea is if I get sacked
ANTONIO CONTE insists the only way he will leave Chelsea this summer is if he’s sacked.
Conte came out fighting yesterday after Luis Enrique and Max Allegri emerged as the latest candidates to replace him amid claims he is set to walk out on the club in the summer.
But asked if he would quit, Conte said: “No. Now, I am fully committed for Chelsea.
“I have another year of contract and in this case, I think the club has to decide to send me away.”
The Italian remains frustrated with the club’s transfer policy.
Asked again whether there was any way he could walk away, he replied bluntly: “No.”
But with Chelsea managers coming and going like London buses, Conte admits there are no guarantees he will survive to the end of his contract in the summer of 2019.
Chelsea’s likely line-up to face Leicester at home
Chelsea FC
“Now, I am fully committed for Chelsea”
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte
“Everything is possible,” he said, ahead of today’s visit from Leicester.
“In one moment you can stay here. In another moment you are in another place and another person replaces you. Football is like this.”
The Chelsea boss set tongues wagging when he was caught on camera chatting to Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez in the Stamford Bridge tunnel ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup draw.
But with Sanchez seemingly heading to Manchester City, Conte claims Pep Guardiola’s men are killing off all competition with their ruthless transfer dealing.
He said: “I must be honest. I understand that the other teams try to kill the other teams and to anticipate the situation. This is the real transfer market. Not to wait until the last moment to buy the players.
“If you anticipate the transfer market you become stronger and you make the other team weak. And I have great respect for the plan of the others because everyone tries to kill you.
GETTY
“If Manchester City wants Alexis Sanchez they buy Alexis Sanchez. They don’t have a problem about money or this investment. I think it is a good investment.
“We are talking about a top player and you can buy him for a price not so high. The amount is around £20m. Maybe a normal price for Alexis Sanchez is €80-90m.”
Conte, who has urged Chelsea to sign Sanchez at least twice, also insisted he did not speak to the Chile star about his future during their tunnel chat.
“I said hello,” he added. “He’s a great player and knows very well in my first season in Juventus we tried to buy him from Udinese and then he decided to go to Barcelona.
GETTY
“He knows my admiration for him and this was a good chance to say hello to him. No other conversations.
“Where will he go? I don’t know. You have to ask him which is his choice. But his future for sure will be in a great club.”
* Chelsea’s former youth coach Graham Rix and ex-chief scout Gwyn Williams have denied “all and any allegations of racial or other abuse”.
Three former youth team players have reportedly launched legal claims against the club as a result of their treatment by Rix and Williams during the 1990s.