Antonio Conte will take charge of Chelsea in the coming days, following the exit of the Italian national team from Euro 2016. He has a huge task of restoring Chelsea pride, which was heavily dented last season as they recorded the worst title defense in the history of the Premier League. His arrival will bring with a lot of changes in routine and tactics for the players as well the staff. He is known to be a disciplinarian, who doesn’t care much about the players who are not putting in their full effort. He did an excellent job with Italy in the Euros and was highly successful during his tenure with Juventus.
Conte will find it difficult to adapt to pace of Premier League and given that he will be competing against the best managers in the world, it’s not going to be an easy task. However he will have a talented group of player, who although struggled collectively last season, still possess a lot of quality. It will be interesting to see how the Italian gets on with his players. There will be some players who will be worried about their starting place after a disastrous last year. There will also be the case of gelling with the new arrivals and forming an understanding as quickly as possible.
Here are the three players we feel who will be benefit from Conte’s arrival.
Cesc Fabregas
The decline we saw in the number of assists Fabregas made last season in comparison to the previous season epitomized Chelsea’s hugely disappointing season. His 7 assists were fairly below the 18 he had in the Blue’s title winning season. He like most of teammates had a major dip in form, which also led to the sacking of Jose Mourinho. However under Conte, Fabregas will have new leash of life, he is still the creative hub of that Chelsea. It will be very crucial for Conte to get his messages across to Fabregas, as his good showing could definitely get Chelsea some success.
Juan Cuadrado
Cuadrado was signed by Jose Mourinho in the winter of 2015 for a fee of £23.3million from Fiorentina but the Colombian player has struggled to make an impression in the 14 appearances he made for the club, following which he moved to Italy and joined Juventus on loan. He has regained his lost touch in Turin, on his way to helping Juventus in the domestic campaign. It has been reported that Conte has been very impressed with Cuadrado and has told the Chelsea management not to sell him. After a brief period of struggle, it finally seems like Cuadrado is getting a second chance at Stamford bridge.
John Terry
One thing we have noticed watching the Italian national team at the Euros is how defensively solid they are as team. They might not have the superstars but each and every player on the field works hard together. Conte will need to instill a similar kind of ideology at Chelsea and for that he will need the help of Chelsea’s longest serving player currently. His decision to offer Terry another year on the contract goes to show that he has the English defender in his plans for next year.