The backroom staff

Conte brought with him an extensive backroom staff who had worked with him for two years at the FIGC with the national team. Many of them, like Angelo Alessio, one of three assistant first team coaches currently at the club, had worked with Conte at Juventus too. Conte’s brother Gianluca is another assistant first team coach. They first played together back at the start of Antonio’s career in Lecce in the 1980s.

There are seven Conte staff men altogether – six Italians and one Spaniard, the first team fitness coach Julio Tous – as well as the man himself. Three of those, Paolo Bertelli, Tous and Constantin Coratti, specialise in fitness. He has brought a goalkeepers’ coach, Gianluca Spinelli and the nutritionist and trainer Tiberio Ancora. It is quite an army of staff, even by the standards of the conventional modern manager, a species that does not tend to travel alone.

The club have retained Steve Holland as the third assistant first team coach, and Chris Jones, a fourth fitness coach. With club ambassador, the former goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini also occasionally on the training pitch there is no shortage of staff. Chelsea, however, insisted on vetting all Conte’s recommendations independently to make sure they were getting expertise in the right areas and were completely satisfied that his staff justified their appointments.