Chelsea: Conte wants England 'keeper; AC Milan want swap deal; AVB criticises club

By Sam Leveridge

Antonio Conte’s presence at Torino’s Serie A clash this weekend has sparked speculation that the Italian could be looking at Joe Hart with a view to bring him to Stamford Bridge according to the Independent. Thibaut Courtois has struggled to find form this season and has spoken of a desire to return to Spain, and the Manchester City reject would likely be available after being discarded by Pep Guardiola.

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Conte could well have been watching another player, but the Blues could certainly do worse than Joe Hart if they are forced to look for another goalkeeper to replace their current number one from Belgium.

Another player set to move from Italy to London to join forces with the former Juventus boss is Mattia de Sciglio, as Calciomercato claim that AC Milan are open to Chelsea’s suggestion of a swap deal with a fee of £8.7 million and the defender in exchange for Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who is unwanted by Conte.

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Conte is desperate to add quality and depth to his defence and is a known admirer of full back De Sciglio, who featured under him in the Italy national team whilst he was in charge as one of his wing-backs – a system he is keen to replicate at Stamford Bridge as soon as possible despite currently lacking the players to match it. The deal would make sense, with Milan also said to be struggling to find the funds to be able to buy Fabregas outright.

A former Chelsea boss has also spoken out on his time at the club, as Andre Villas Boas is quoted by the Mirror as he spoke at a recent event to say:

“The Chelsea experience was too much too soon. I wasn’t flexible as a manager at that time. I was communicative, but I wasn’t flexible in my approach… In professional football you have to live the day-to-day. The objective is the group performance, but every single individual requires a different response from a manager – you can’t be the same person to each player. At Chelsea the group was more important, I stuck to my methods too much.”

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Some have criticised the club for the lack of patience with the Portuguese manager, though his failure at Tottenham suggested that they were not mistaken in sacking the current Zenit St Petersburg manager.

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