After months of speculation surrounding his future, Antonio Conte is surprisingly still Chelsea’s Manager, but he is now a reportedly a target for Real Madrid.
The Italian was highly expected to be sacked within days of winning the FA Cup final last month, after failing to qualify for next seasons Champions League having finished fourth in the Premier League.
However, despite the relatively disappointing season, Conte still remains in charge at Chelsea with the club seeming to be in a bit of disarray.
They had been tracking Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri, but are reluctant to pay his £7 million buyout clause, despite him having already incredibly being replaced by former Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti. There is also a reluctance to have to pay up the remainder of Conte’s £8m-a-year contract if they were to sack him, with one year remaining on his current deal.
All of the jobs that Conte has been linked to, including Juventus, Napoli, Italy and PSG have not become available, meaning that it could be an expensive exercise to replace the Italian.
However, reports today suggest that they could be handed a lifeline with potential interest from Real Madrid.
The European champions are still getting over the shock news of Zinedine Zidane’s resignation which came just days after winning the Champions League final. Their search for a new boss has also been fruitless so far, with the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Max Allegri ruling themselves out of a move to the Bernabeu.
The Mail now claims that Los Blancos could turn their attention to Conte, a move which would save Chelsea the cost of sacking the Italian, and could even make money from the Spanish giants in the form of compensation.