Roman Abramovich is so “furious” about Chelsea’s home humbling by Liverpool that his new manager, Antonio Conte, is already in trouble, says the Express in a report labelled as “exclusive” – in a scarlet font that is bright but considerably smaller than the red “exclusive” at the top of the Daily Star’s near-identical story. Conte’s “failure to turn around the obvious flaws in the squad” were “brutally exposed” in a defeat that “cranked up the pressure” on the Italian, says the Express though the good news is that if he manages to hang on until January he “is certain to be given funds”. The Star says Abramovich is “furious” and the manager “already under pressure”, though Conte “is known to be unhappy” about his new club’s failure to sign several summer targets. The Sun, which claims no exclusivity, also reports on Abramovich’s “late-night talks with Chelsea’s top brass”, but insists that he “is not under immediate pressure”.
Talking of troubled managers, West Ham have apparently called off negotiations with Slaven Bilic over a new, improved and extended contract because they’re worried he might actually be rubbish. “There is no immediate danger of him being axed,” reassures the Mirror.
The same newspaper, however, has a managerial exclusive of its own, reporting that Francesco Guidolin is “coming under mounting pressure at Swansea” after a disappointing start to the season in which the club have won only one of their first five games. The good news for Guidolin is that the die is not yet cast – he has “three crunch home games which could decide his fate”. The bad news is that those three games are against Manchester City (in the EFL Cup), Manchester City again (in the league) and Liverpool, a triple-whammy that will be followed by an international break and then a visit to Arsenal, though for Guidolin it seems the international break may turn out to be indefinite.
The bad news for Manchester United is that they appear to have spent their way into a crisis. The good news for Manchester United is that they believe they can spend their way out of it again – this time they’re eyeing Spanish midfielder and long-term Rumour Mill favourite Isco, who has played only 44 Liga minutes this season and “is set to be allowed to leave” Real Madrid in January. They might try to raise money by selling Phil Jones, who is both injured and not very good really when you think about it.
Arsenal’s Héctor Bellerín is quite good, which may be why Manchester City and Barcelona are, were or will be interested in him at some point in the recent past, near future or actual present. “They asked about him in the summer transfer window and will return in January,” reports the Mail, “although he will be a more realistic signing at the end of the season.”
Sean Dyche was coy when asked if he was interested in Stéphane Sessègnon last week, but behind the scenes Burnley are involved in a three-way fight for the services of the out-of-contract 32-year-old, with Metz in France and Bursaspor in Turkey both making rival bids for the Benin forward.
