Despite sitting third in the Premier League, Chelsea has not had a very fruitful season so far. And club manager Antonio Conte has shut down any conversations with any board members after being unimpressed with the clubs transfer policy. After having led the Blues to a Premier League title in his first season in charge of the club, Antonio Conte built up his reputation as a manager who was leading the club in the right direction. But since last season ended on such a high, Chelsea has fallen behind in many aspects of their expectations. Chelsea was unable to bring in their prime targets in the summer transfer window to reinforce their squad and lost a couple of key players from their side.
Nemanja Matic was absolutely brilliant for Chelsea during their Premier League campaign last term but the London outfit decided to let him join fierce Premier League rivals Manchester United and also showed club legend and inspiration, John Terry, the exit door after he failed to nail down as a regular in Conte’s squad.
Romelu Lukaku was Chelsea’s first choice target as a striker but he too joined Jose Mourinho’s Red Devils as the Chelsea board fell short on convincing the Belgian to join the club he was once sold by. Instead, Chelsea got Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, but the Spaniard has had an up and down time so far in the Premier League and he is struggling for goals at the moment.
Other new arrivals in the form of Danny Drinkwater, Antonio Rudiger and Tiemoue Bakayoko have still not completely convinced the Italian boss of a regular place in the starting eleven. And Conte is reportedly unhappy that the club has only managed to bring in English midfielder Ross Barkley from Everton in this January transfer window.
Conte is so disappointed with the club’s transfer negotiators that he is not even on talking terms with the key negotiator at the club Marina Granovskaia. Reports claim there is a rift between the pair at the club after Marina did not bring in the players Conte demanded.
Marina has been appointed by Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea club Roman Abramovic to handle most of the negotiations Chelsea go through with different players and earned his trust after securing a deal for Fernando Torres in 2011 and got a Nike deal which earns the club around £60m a year until 2032. And despite spending heavily this season, Conte is not happy with the decisions that Marina has made.
Conte also uses assistant coach Carlo Cudicini to communicate and transfer messages among the pair as he prefers not to speak to Marina. After the recent Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, Conte complained about the transfer board and his issues with them.
The former Juventus manager reportedly wanted Leonardo Bonucci and Fernando Llorente in his squad this season, but Marina went against the decision. This could be a huge problem for the club and could the effects could be seen on the pitch if the backroom and board aren’t on good terms with each other.
