Conte: 'No Chelsea without family'

By Football Italia staff

Antonio Conte confirmed he won’t stay at Chelsea without his family. “People have been trying to knock me off the mountain for 10 years. They failed.”

The Coach has just won the Premier League at the first attempt and is the number one target for Inter.

“My objective is to lay the foundations so Chelsea can continue to win,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.

“This is already a big club, but it’s inconsistent. They won the Champions League, then went out in the first round. They won the Premier League and then finished 10th. Chelsea need to find stability at the top.

“I will speak to Roman Abramovich soon.”

Whether that is with Conte still at the helm remains to be seen amid huge offers from Inter.

“It’s not all happiness and light. The arrival was, but the journey wasn’t. With my wife Elisabetta in January we decided that Vittoria would finish school in Turin, even if she was already registered to start in London.

“However, if I am to stay, then they will come and stay with me. It will be a great opportunity for my daughter to live in a foreign country. I’ll tell you one thing for sure, I won’t have another year on my own.”

Conte admits it wasn’t easy to settle in to a new country, especially with the language barrier and certain cultural idiosyncrasies.

“The lads accepted new methods: very intense training sessions, the diet, the video analysis and importance of details. I feel fortified. I remain intransigent in my work, but I am more flexible. I learned to turn a blind eye to certain things, like players eating scrambled eggs before a game… You have to accept the traditions of a country.

“You also need to speak the language, out of respect. I had studied it at school, but had a two-week intensive course. Learning English felt like climbing a mountain: with strong motivation, nothing is insurmountable.

“The language is irrelevant if you don’t know how to transmit emotion: many university professors are not good teachers.”

The campaign seemed to be veering off track in September with defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal, which is when Conte changed to 3-4-3.

“The team would go out on to the field and I didn’t know what was going to happen: that’s the worst sensation for a Coach. Defeat for me lasts two days, while victory is only an hour.

“I thought: if I have to die, let me die by my own ideas. My own conviction, my own meticulous work. I am not someone who compromises. I was giving my all and didn’t feel under pressure, but I couldn’t change my nature. The squad respected me and my past spoke for me, including as a player.”

Conte surprised many in England with his passionate goal celebrations, which of course are well-known to Italy fans.

“It’s spontaneous. At the start, when I hugged the players, they were a bit stiff. So were the fans when I’d dive into them close to the bench.

“I wanted to experience English football, so now that I’ve tried that atmosphere, I do feel more complete. It’s not true that there’s less pressure, because in a big club you always have to win.

“My management career was like climbing a mountain. People have been trying to knock me off for 10 years. They failed.”

Inter’s biggest advantage in trying to tempt Conte away is in his love for Italy.

“The enthusiasm of the Italians makes me proud. Speculation on my future is normal, but I demand concentration on the field.

“I am in love with Italy. I feel it in my heart in everything I do, even if it took winning the Premier League to get my father to come over. He promised that he’d visit with my mother.”

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