Italy have conceded defeat in their attempts to convince Chelsea coach Antonio Conte to become their manager for a second time.

As Standard Sport first revealed last week, Conte is not interested in returning back to the job he had between 2014 and 2016.

Vice commissioner of the Italian Football Federation, Alessandro Costacurta, appeared to be refusing to take no for an answer.

Costacurta insisted the former Italy international midfielder was still a candidate, even after Conte confirmed otherwise in a press conference on Friday, and revealed he was going to travel to London for talks.

However, Costacurta has now had a change of mind and said: “Antonio Conte has pulled out. As Conte reiterated the other day, he wants to continue working as a coach on a day-by-day basis at club level for at least the next 18 months, the length of his Chelsea contract, so he has pulled out of the running.”

It is believed Zenit St Petersburg coach Roberto Mancini is the favoured choice anyway, but Italy may follow what England did with Gareth Southgate and promote their Under-21 coach Luigi di Biagio.

He is set to be in charge on a caretaker basis for their friendlies against Argentina and England next month and Costacurta added: “Southgate went along this path and it happens quite often. Di Biagio knows the talents who are in Italy.

“If nothing happens in the meantime, the new national coach will be announced in June.”

Conte’s position as Chelsea manager remains in doubt though as he takes the team to face Watford tonight.

The 48-year-old has asked the club to issue a statement backing him publicly saying they "trust in his work". Whether the club do that remains to be seen as the Blues have struggled for consistency all season and are currently in fourth place, just one point above Tottenham.

They go into the match at Vicarage Road having suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth last time out. Cesc Fabregas admits this is a real test of character for the Chelsea players and one they must overcome.

He said: “We have to keep our heads up. It was a very disappointing night against Bournemouth for many reasons. Now is not the time to feel sorry for ourselves or put our heads down, in fact it’s time for the opposite.

“We now have to be stronger than ever, show the quality we’ve got, our leadership and try to focus better than what we’ve done lately and perform at the top level again.”

Chelsea have been handed another blow with the news that Ross Barkley is set to be ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Barkley, who has made three appearances since joining from Everton for £15m, suffered the problem in training last week.

He is the eighth Chelsea player to pick up a hamstring strain this term, which has put Conte’s training methods under further scrutiny.

Alvaro Morata (back) and Andreas Christensen (hamstring) are also unavailable, but Willian (hamstring) may return. New signings Emerson Palmieri and Oliver Giroud could make their debuts.