ANTONIO CONTE INSISTS he wants to remain at Chelsea for the foreseeable future despite renewed links with the head coach role at Inter.
The Italian is just one win away from steering the Blues to the Premier League title in his first season at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea will get the job done if they beat West Brom at The Hawthorns on Friday.
However, earlier this season former Juventus boss Conte was linked with a return to Italy to coach Inter and, with the Nerazzurri having dismissed Stefano Pioli this week, those rumours have quickly resurfaced.
Conte, though, was keen to distance himself from a departure when addressing the reports at a pre-match news conference.
“I have a contract with Chelsea, for two years,” he said.
“It is logical when you start the work in a new club, the will is to continue to work for many years. For sure this is my will.
“Now the most important thing is to reach our target, because to arrive at this moment and have a great opportunity we have worked very hard. Now we need to be ready and do this step and to win and celebrate.”
When pressed on the Inter rumours, he added: “I repeat what I said before, I have a contract, two years with Chelsea, but also I like to repeat for me and my players it is important to be focused in the moment, the moment is very important.
“It is not important the single person now; me, the players, we must be focused on the moment.
“It is normal to have a lot of speculation, on me, the players, the coaches, but we can’t lose the focus, now it is very important.”
It has also been rumoured that Chelsea – who are also in the FA Cup final where they will meet Arsenal – are planning to offer Conte a lucrative new contract with the promise of a huge war chest to add to his squad for next term.
But Conte says that money is not a motivating factor in any decisions he makes.
He added: “When you reach a type of level the money could be important, but it is not all.
“When you stay at this level the money only explains your value, it is not important.
“You work in football as a footballer, stay at the top level for many years, then become a top coach, I don’t think money is as important.
“It is important to win and to write the history of the club. Money is important, but not all.”
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He stayed too long, not his fault, the love of the game and all that, but he kept out a lot of good young lads from getting experience, and now they are paying for it, they have a problem in that sector now. He should have been eased out a few years ago.
So you put the best keeper in the country on the bench for others to gain experience???
U don’t seriously believe he was even the best keeper in tipp for the last three or four years.
I think Tipperary hurling would be in a bad state if it wasnt for the likes of Brendan Cummins , he oppitimises everything that is good about the gaa and has been a rock in the Tipperary defence over the past two decades . I always felt that whatever forward was running at our defence and having broke through the backline they would look up and think i ve done the easy part …..now how do i get the ball past Brendan. I wish him every success in his future endeavours and am thankful that I got to see a true legend of the game playing at his best over such a long period .
One of the greats but give Darren Gleeson a chance. He’s a good player and hasn’t let Tipp down. You can’t replace the likes of cummins, you just have to move on. Darragh Egan experiment not a success though.