Chelsea confirmed on
Monday that Italy coach Antonio Conte will take charge at Stamford Bridge in
time for next season. Here AFP Sports looks at five things the former Juventusboss must focus on
to get the troubled Premier League club back on track:
Resolve Terry's future
Hailed as
"captain, leader, legend" on the banner hung by adoring fans at
Stamford Bridge, John Terry's
credentials as a Chelsea icon and a major inspiration behind their success are
well established, yet Conte will be faced with the thorny problem of
potentially ending that two-decade love affair.
The 35-year-old
defender dropped a bombshell in January when he announced he would be leaving
at the end of the season because the club had told him he wouldn't be given a
contract extension.
But Chelsea have
since insisted Terry's fate will be decided solely by the new manager, leaving
Conte to weigh up the benefits of keeping a figure of Terry's experience and
tenacity to create a smoother transition to the new era, while also pondering
whether his fading form and declining influence in a dressing room now populated
by younger and less deferential teammates mean it would be wiser to sever ties
with the polarising captain.
Rebuild the Eden project
Rewind 12 months
and Eden Hazard appeared
to have the world at his feet as he prepared to accept two Footballer of the
Year awards and a Premier League winners' medal while being feted by Jose
Mourinho as the equal of superstars Lionel Messiand Cristiano
Ronaldo.
Yet less than a
year later, Hazard's form has mysteriously collapsed to such an extent that
many Chelsea fans would gladly wave farewell to the 25-year-old Belgian if he
is sold in the close-season.
Hazard's perceived
sulkiness during this season's collapse made him a target for Mourinho
loyalists, who point out he has scored just twice for Chelsea this term, with
his last Premier League goal coming in May 2015, but it is the lethargic nature
of his performances that will be most alarming for Conte as he contemplates how
to revitalise the talented playmaker.
Deal with serial offender Costa
Although Diego
Costa's goals fired Chelsea to the Premier League title in his debut season, he
was already earning a reputation as the unapologetically snarling face of Jose
Mourinho's combative team and if anything he has become more moody in year two.
While his predatory
instincts are unquestionable, the Spain striker has lost his focus time and
again as he finds himself embroiled in needless flashpoints and, with the arch
provocateur Mourinho content to encourage those tendencies, there is a growing belief
Costa was allowed to run wild to the detriment of himself and his team.
Costa's bear with a
sore head impression has fuelled speculation that he is unhappy in England and
would relish a move in the close-season so, with Paris Saint
Germain and his old club Atletico Madrid said to be ready to
offer him an escape route, Conte must decide whether to cut his losses or try
to rehabilitate the serial offender.
Change the mood music
Regardless of who
stays or goes, Conte should already know he must rebuild the squad's shattered
morale after what even the club were forced to admit was "palpable
discord" between Mourinho and the players in the final months of his
reign.
Mourinho's abrasive
approach irritated too many players and their response was to down tools,
leading to his sacking in December, but even the more mild mannered Guus
Hiddink, installed as interim boss, has only been able to coax a small
improvement in the quality of the team's performances.
It will be
fascinating to see if Conte changes his own intense style to soothe the fragile
Chelsea egos, especially since Andrea Pirlo,
who played under him at Juventus, described his compatriot like this:
"Even when we're winning, Conte comes in and hurls (things) against the
wall. His words assault you. They crash through the doors of your mind, often
quite violently, and settle deep within you."
Make up for a misspent youth
With owner Roman
Abramovich reportedly unhappy with Chelsea's failure to produce more homegrown
talents despite his huge investment in the youth academy, Conte could earn some
early praise from his employer by unearthing a gem or two among the youngsters
learning their trade at the club's leafy Cobham headquarters.
Incredibly, John
Terry remains the last product of Chelsea's youth system to successfully
establish himself as a first-team regular with the Blues.
Conte would be wise
to try to make the most of promising midfielder Ruben
Loftus-Cheek, 20, and other more untested but highly-rated
youngsters like Charly Musonda, Lewis Baker and Dom Solanke.
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