Chelsea have been here before – plenty of times, in fact, under Roman Abramovich, with those familiar declarations of the recruitment of “one of the most highly regarded managers in world football” and a candidate with “a record of consistent success in his career” accompanying the new arrival. Antonio Conte should be well versed in what awaits as he prepares to take up his position as the eighth permanent manager in 12 years.
Yet, in other respects, this is a club venturing into uncharted territory. Abramovich has never previously seen his plaything denied Champions League football but here are Chelsea contemplating a campaign bereft of European competition of any kind. And, unlike when previous new managers stepped in, the vast majority of those celebrated stalwarts of the first Mourinho era – Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, Didier Drogba and, by the look of things, now John Terry – have moved on.
This is the opportunity for a fresh start. Conte once reinvigorated Juventus. He will arrive at Cobham after the European Championship seeking to instigate a similar upturn in Chelsea’s fortunes as this club digests their least successful campaign under Abramovich’s ownership. Here, we look at the issues that await the new man.
Determining what Chelsea are asking of him
The Italian must initially seek clarity as to what precisely is expected of him in the campaign ahead. What do the hierarchy consider to be realistic objectives? Is Conte supposed to mount an immediate title challenge, taking advantage of the lack of continental clutter in the fixture list, in the manner of Liverpool in 2013-14 or Leicester this year, with the priority to reclaim the Premier League? Or is the rebuild to be a longer process of evolution, particularly given this is a club also budgeting to redevelop its ground in the near future?
The word from the top will determine everything from summer transfer policy and team selection to the style of play Conte’s coaching staff look to implement. If Chelsea are talking – again, not for the first time – about forging a dynasty and laying down a long-term vision, then they surely have to offer Conte proper time either to integrate new faces, with some of those brought in possibly not the finished article, or promote and utilise talent from an expensive and extensive academy. That approach must be accompanied by patience within the hierarchy.
Given the club’s record, however, what is more likely would appear to be an acute sense of embarrassment at the failure to qualify for the Champions League and a demand for an immediate restoration to Europe’s elite as the bare minimum requirement. To make an immediate impact, Conte may have to concentrate instead on rejuvenating the senior players he inherits, perhaps sprinkling the squad with one or two pedigree signings if they can be attracted. That would merely maintain the trend at a club who have struggled to strike a balance between immediate demands and future planning.
Should there be a cull?
The first talk of a squad clear-out surfaced in the autumn while the title defence was unravelling under José Mourinho. The Portuguese eventually went public in suggesting this group of players may have overachieved last season, largely courtesy of his own input, given how many were finding it hard to rescale those heights. Nemanja Matic, Gary Cahill, Oscar and, most notably, Eden Hazard have laboured horribly at times. Cesc Fàbregas and Diego Costa looked more like their old selves only once Guus Hiddink took over. And now another disciplinarian has been hired. Will they respond positively to the new man?
An element of trimming will be required. Conte will inherit a bloated squad, with around 60 senior players on the books – albeit most will again spend next year out on loan – and there will be some, from Terry to the two South American loanees, Radamel Falcao and Alexandre Pato, who will depart. But the indications are there is little urgency within the club’s hierarchy to instigate sweeping changes to the senior setup. Senior executives retain faith in Hazard – contracted to 2020 – Matic and Oscar, and consider their toils reflective of the collective enduring a dip in confidence. Conte may also believe Juan Cuadrado, so impressive at Juventus, may still have a future at Stamford Bridge. The belief is these players each have quality and can be revived. The question the manager must answer is whether they are reliable enough to become the core of a new, dominant Chelsea team.
Persuading Costa to stay or finding a suitable replacement
Whether Costa can be convinced to remain in English football is more open to doubt. The Brazil-born Spain international was not entirely happy last summer, as he celebrated a Premier League title in his first year at the club, yet he returned to Cobham unfit and was a surly and snarling presence for too long over the first half of the season.
Hiddink coaxed out a flurry of form, only for on-field disciplinary issues to flare up again, which will presumably have fuelled the player’s persecution complex. Atlético Madrid are keen to take him back to the Spanish capital and Costa will be sorely tempted to return to Diego Simeone, La Liga and a city where he feels properly at home. His agent, Jorge Mendes, has apparently also made contact with Paris Saint-Germain, and there is rumoured interest from the Chinese Super League, who would consider his signing a colossal coup.
Chelsea, ideally, would like to retain a player who is clearly capable of leading the line effectively – when focused – and will score 20 goals every season. The issue is whether he is worth the controversy that tends to accompany him, particularly if he is disaffected. Generating funds through a sale in excess of £40m would at least offer the recruitment department more leeway in the market, for all that a replacement would not come cheap.
Regardless, strengthening those forward ranks has to be the priority this summer. Loïc Rémy, Falcao and Pato were collectively outclassed by Bertrand Traoré’s cameos in the spring and, even if Conte plays a lone forward, over-reliance on one performer appears short-sighted.
Ensuring recruitment matches level of 2014, not other years
Conte arrives as a “head coach” rather than manager and that may have implications over whether he can hope to dictate transfer policy. He will have targeted his ideal recruits, whether they be the Roma players Radja Nainggolan and Kostas Manolas, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Juventus’s Leonardo Bonucci or Edinson Cavani of Paris SaintGermain – whose future appears to hinge on whether Zlatan Ibrahimovic signs a new deal at Parc des Princes – whom he would hope to entice to Stamford Bridge even in the absence of European football. The Chelsea hierarchy will retain aspirations to bring in John Stones from Everton, particularly with Terry expected to leave. There is even interest in re-signing Romelu Lukaku.
But, however realistic those targets prove, Chelsea have much to prove in the market. Where they strengthened so well in 2014, when Kurt Zouma joined in January and Diego Costa and Fàbregas were the standout summer additions, the period since has been marked by too many costly purchases who have proved ineffective. They dawdled last summer when the manager was seeking to build on a title success, with their business conducted late and haphazardly where, previously, they had been so focused. Learning from those mistakes will fall on the technical director, Michael Emenalo – who has already been busily sounding out potential targets – and the director Marina Granovskaia. The market is more of a challenge now but, whatever happens, Conte will have to integrate more effectively those who are secured.
Negotiating a passage through a political minefield of a club
A club ultimately owned by one man, and therefore in effect run on his whim, might normally be devoid of internal politics but Chelsea, with their football and executive boards as well as assorted hangers-on and advisers, retain the feel of a complicated mishmash of personalities and influences. Conte must curry favour with Granovskaia, the director who was so key to the re-recruitment of Mourinho, was quoted in the club’s statement on Monday and remains Abramovich’s eyes and ears. The chairman, Bruce Buck, and Eugene Tenenbaum, the latter less heavily involved than he was, retain an influence.
Then there is Emenalo, who has steadily built up his own influence since the days of Avram Grant, and the various agents and facilitators who have each made a mark, and a pound or two, from this club in recent times. Where Jorge Mendes had played his part in the arrivals of Costa and Falcao, and Darren Dein efficiently brought in Fàbregas, these days it is Kia Joorabchian who appears to be the club’s go-to man. The intermediary who had helped buy and sell, at hefty profits, David Luiz and Ramires has also smoothed the arrivals of Oscar, Willian, Matt Miazga and Pato in recent times.
The recruitment of the last of these seemed like a favour: the signing of a 26-year-old Brazilian who had not played since November when he arrived and slipped from second- to fifth-choice forward in the time it took to bring him vaguely up to speed. Yet, odd as that transfer was, for all that he scored on debut at Aston Villa on Saturday, it did offer an insight into the complicated relationships at play at Stamford Bridge. Conte must negotiate a passage through the minefield to ensure he gives himself the best chance of thriving.
Offering those in the academy some hope of progress
The frustration with Pato so often occupying an unused place on the bench, arguably like Falcao before him, was others might have benefited more from that experience. This club’s academy, run at huge expense, has a fine reputation. Its coaching staff, with its sprinkling of stalwarts from Chelsea’s past, is extensive and impressive, the talent all too evident in the trophies the junior teams hoist every season and in the numbers who emerge to be rewarded with loan spells in first-team setups away from Stamford Bridge.
Yet the relationship between Mourinho and the academy rather broke down towards the end of his time at the club, a sense of “us and them” developing which was rather unhealthy and even saw the youth-team’s coaches having their initials removed from training gear. Conte must heal those wounds and, ideally, offer those in the junior setup realistic hope that they can command some involvement in the senior, maintaining what progress has been made over the last few weeks by Guus Hiddink.
Traoré and Kenedy have been offered opportunities under the interim, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, now secured on a new long-term deal, even had the occasional outing under Mourinho. Jake Clarke-Salter had a 16-minute debut on Saturday. Hopefully Dominic Solanke, Isaiah Brown, Tammy Abraham will benefit from similar tastes of Premier League football in the near future.
