ANTONIO CONTE will reportedly be AC Milan's top candidate to replace Vincenzo Montella next summer.
According to Sky Sport (h/t Calciomercato's Jean-Luca Mascaro), the Chelsea manager is expected to be "the top priority for Milan come summer time," with the club set to make use of an interim boss until then if they relieve Montella of his duties before the end of the season.
Montella is under serious pressure at the San Siro after spending over €200 million in the summer to recruit a number of talented players including Leonardo Bonucci, Ricardo Rodriguez, Hakan Calhanoglu and Andre Silva, among others.
While it's natural for so many new faces to need time to bed in, the Rossoneri have already lost five games in Serie A including four of their last six, and they now lag behind in eighth, 15 points behind league leaders Napoli and 12 points outside the UEFA Champions League places.
BeIN Sports' Matteo Bonetti and Goal's Mootaz Chehade were critical of Montella during Milan's 2-0 defeat to Juventus at the weekend:
It's difficult to see Montella remaining in charge if their struggles continue much longer.
Conte is contracted to Chelsea until 2019, but the Blues are nine points behind Manchester City, who are in control of the Premier League title race.
On Tuesday, the Italian's team were beaten 3-0 by Roma in the Champions League, drawing criticism from the Daily Mail's Charlie Skillen and theTelegraph's Matt Law:
I've been a massive fan of Conte since he came to England (and I still am) but I'm starting to think that rotation is not one of his strengths. Several instances of his selections not working this season.
Should the Blues fail to win a major honour this year, it wouldn't be too surprising if Conte was let go in the summer by trigger-happy owner Roman Abramovich, so he could be available.
Despite his current struggles at Chelsea—who are, it's worth noting, just one point off third place in the Premier League and second in their Champions League group—Conte would be an outstanding choice to take over at Milan.
The 48-year-old won three consecutive Serie A titles with Juve and bagged the Premier League in his first season at Stamford Bridge, and he has experience of working with Bonucci at Juventus and with Italy.
The defender has not set Milan alight since his arrival in the summer, but Conte could get the best out of him. All in all, he'd be well-equipped to transform Milan back into genuine contenders in Serie A.
No comments:
Post a Comment