Italy boss, and potential future Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, has revealed that he would want Arturo Vidal on every team he coached.
The pair worked together at Juventus for several years and enjoyed great success, and so it would come as no surprise that they would be keen on joining forces once again at some point in the future.
Vidal left Turin for Bayern Munich last summer, a year after Conte opted to leave and take up the Italy job, but with on-going speculation linking the Italian tactician with the Chelsea post, as reported by The Express, he could have an opportunity to sign Vidal for a second time.
“I’d take Vidal too,” Conte told El Pais, as reported by the Evening Standard. “He’s an amazing player. I must admit at Juve I found him hard to fit in.
“In my head I wanted to play a 4-2-4 and 4-4-2, but seeing the intensity of Vidal getting up and down the pitch I switched to a 4-3-3 which then transformed into 3-5-2.
“He has extraordinary physical and technical attributes, if I get to coach him a little more it’d be fantastic. I want him in all my teams.”
While all that is seemingly missing is an official confirmation from the club, Conte will likely be handed significant transfer funds to build his own squad at Stamford Bridge this summer.
That in turn has led to the Blues being linked with various players across Europe, albeit many of Conte’s former Juventus stars have been paired strongly with a move to west London.
It remains to be seen how successful the 46-year-old is in convincing them to join him there, but it is evident how highly he rates Vidal who will be fully focused on helping Bayern win honours both at home and abroad in the coming months.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the combative Chilean international would be a perfect fit for the Premier League, and he would arguably welcome the opportunity to test himself in another of the best leagues in Europe.