Reports circulated on Tuesday morning centering around a headline in Italian paper La Gazetta dello Sport that said Italy and former Juventus coach Antonio Conte has an 'agreement in principle' with Chelsea to become the London club's next manager.
It is, however, unclear what exactly that agreement might be. Tuesday's front page of La Gazetta does indeed feature a headline saying 'Conte-Chelsea have an agreement', but the paper's actual report is far less specific.
Under a headline on the paper's English language site, Conte is only identified as the 'favourite' for the job. La Gazetta writes "Roman Abramovich's final decision isn't expected for another few weeks". They do note, however, that "Antonio Conte is the top candidate for the job".
The report itself then only goes on to note: “Antonio Conte is one of the three finalists for next season’s open Chelsea job as owner Roman Abramovich will reportedly make a final decision in mid-March.”
The report goes on to note the 'competition' of Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid and Massimiliano Allegri of Juventus.
As for an actual agreement, La Gazetta only seems to outline how such a deal between Chelsea and Conte might figure:
"Conte believes he is ready to take on the challenges presented by the Premier League with the setup at Chelsea – club structure, youth sector, and current squad – all to the Italian's liking."
“Money will not be an issue” the report insists.
On La Gazetta's Italian site, they write the play for Conte, "is not yet entirely made". They merely say Chelsea "now seriously nod to Antonio Conte".
The Italian language report goes on to say “there would in fact be real direct contact” recently between the parties, who “would have also discussed contractual issues”.
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