Staying put : Antonio Conte refuses to accept that he is no longer manager at Chelsea

If care is not taken, Chelsea Football Club may end up in a farcical situation of having two managers at the commencement of the new season.

The reasons for this are clear for anyone to see.  Conte plans to be at Chelsea's training ground on Monday for the start of pre-season while the club continue to work on appointing Maurizio Sarri as his successor.  There are actually reports that a three year deal has been agreed in principle with Sarri.

It is strange that while the fiery Italian still has 12 months left on his contract, the west London club seemed to have concluded arrangements to replace him immediately.




Conte, 48, still sees himself as an employee of the club.  He is refusing to leave without his nine and half million pounds salary being paid in full.

Bizarrely, while Chelsea have maintained a puzzling silence on Conte, they have also started working on some of Sarri's transfer targets.  These targets include Juventus defender Daniele Rugani and Russia midfielder Aleksandr Golovin.




It would be interesting to see what happens next.