Former Chelsea FC manager Antonio Conte, now in charge at Inter Milan, gave a wide-ranging and extremely lid-lifting interview to The Daily Telegraph this week. A lot of ground was covered and information revealed.
Conte opened up on his relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and former striker Diego Costa. He also provided some intriguing details about the time he tried to sign both Virgil van Dijk and Romelu Lukaku. The 51-year-old Italian won a Premier League and FA Cup title during his two seasons at Chelsea, a time that certainly saw more than its share of tumult.
Perhaps the biggest reveal from this article though is future and not past oriented. Conte said that although he is happy right where he is in Serie A, he still would welcome a return to the Premier League someday. Time will tell if a comeback to England is in the cards.
On his relationship with Abramovich, Conte said:
“Sometimes, you can agree because the results are negative and sometimes, you don’t understand why. But I think you must accept and I keep good memories with Chelsea, the club, with Mr Abramovich, who is a very passionate man for his football.”
“It was incredible, especially in my first season, because he was very, very close to me, asking about my football and my ideas.”
Conte described the billionaire Russian Oligarch and richest Israeli citizen on Earth as being more hands on and connected to the club than many of us believe he might be day-to-day.
“Many times he came to the training ground to meet me and I remember he wanted to watch the video about our game and about our preparation – the way we wanted to face the opponent.”
“I think in my career, he was one of the most passionate men about football and I keep good memories about him and about the club, an important club in the world,” Conte continued.
In terms of coming back to the EPL once his time at Inter is through (whenever that may be), he said the following:
“I have this season and another year of my contract at Inter and I started a project here, and, honestly, I want to continue this project and stay for many years because we are building the bases.”
“But, for sure, in my future, I want to come back to England to have another experience because I enjoyed my stay there a lot and to breathe the atmosphere in England.”
“For me, for my family, I’d like to one day come back to England because we lived an incredible experience and we want to continue to have another experience in England.”
Could he have another run at Chelsea? It’s not outside the realm of possibility as Abramovich is notorious for having an itchy trigger finger when it comes to sacking his managers.
And Mourinho did have two stints since the world’s 113th richest person took over the club in 2003.
Most likely though another go-round in Great Britain would be at a different club.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.