Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League last season after sacking Jose Mourinho in December and replacing him with Guus Hiddink.
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Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has made Costa his number one transfer target this summer.
“I love to be with my players, to speak with them, to help them to understand my philosophy, my methods and my thoughts”.
“It is important to go back to the Champions League because Chelsea are a great club and great clubs must play in the Champions League”.
Conte is determined to restore Eden Hazard to the kind of form which carried Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2015 and earned the Belgium worldwide both big player-of-the-year awards. However, the Milan outfit opted to look for options elsewhere, clearing the path for Conte and Chelsea.
“He’s a lovely man”, Conte said, “and I will ask him a bit of advice”.
Today Chelsea also announced a deal to sign midfielder Kante from Leicester City for a reported £32m, but that’s not the end of their spending spree.
The Italian, who has previously managed Juventus and Bari, feels that a club of Chelsea’s stature must play in the Champions League. Chelsea’s annus horriblis – the 10th-place finish described as “incredible” by Conte – was particularly hard for the Belgian, who suffered a 273-day goal drought while holding two player of the year awards. “We take all decisions together with the club and I am very happy John signed”, Conte said.
It was a dominant start to the game for Rapid, who were fast out of the blocks against a Chelsea side simply unable to get a foot on the ball. For this reason, this situation is very exciting for me. The most important message is that I’m a worker.
Conte is unlikely to have quite the same success at Chelsea as he did at Juventus, and would make no predictions about winning the title. It’s important to have the right spirit and I think that is very very important if we want to compete for the title. I try to educate them and show them respect.
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“For me, I’m very happy to be compared with them, but in this tournament it’s not a challenge between managers”.
