Fresh after winning the Premier League title in his first season with Chelsea, Antonio Conte is reportedly set to receive a new big-money contract from the club.
The Italian celebrated the achievement with his players on Friday night, while they also still have the possibility of a double with the FA Cup final against Arsenal fast approaching.
However, despite all those positive storylines, one that hasn’t gone away is speculation of a swoop from Inter as they are desperate to make the former Juventus and Italy boss their new coach ahead of next season to lead their resurgence.
As reported by The Telegraph though, Roman Abramovich has his own plans to avoid that situation from materialising, as he will look to make Conte the club’s highest paid manager ever.
While he currently makes £6.5m-a-year, Inter have reportedly offered him £12.5m-a-year, but that could now be outdone by Abramovich’s latest offer.
In addition, if that wasn’t enough for the 47-year-old, he’ll also be given £200m this summer to further strengthen his squad as Chelsea prepare for a return to the Champions League next season.
It’s noted in the report that Conte wants to add more key players to his squad in order to allow him to be more tactically flexible, while he’ll also have the huge boost that Eden Hazard could pen a new £300,000-a-aweek contract to commit his long-term future to the Blues.
Romelu Lukaku, Virgil van Dijk and Tiemoue Bakayoko are all touted as possible signings, while a full-back and wide player will allow him to play his 4-2-4 system when the situation suits.
Combine that with exits for John Terry and potentially Asmir Begovic, Nathan Ake and Diego Costa, it will be an important summer for Chelsea to replace and strengthen in order to stay at the top.