Antonio Conte announces Chelsea start date as new boss speaks bullishly after Italy role ends with penalty loss

 

Antonio Conte clearly doesn’t waste time feeling sorry for himself.

And that’s good news for Chelsea, who can finally start to plan for the upcoming season now that their new boss is no longer the manager of Italy.

Conte led the Azzurri into the Euro 2016 finals knowing that he would leave for Chelsea once his side had been eliminated.

That elimination came at the hands of Germany, who progressed to the semis on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in Bordeaux on Saturday night.

Speaking after the game, Conte seemed bullish as he spoke about his future with Chelsea.

Conte also said that he would begin work with his new club after taking seven days off, effectively announcing his Chelsea start date as Sunday July 10.

That is six days before the Blues play their first pre-season friendly – against Rapid Vienna on Saturday July 16. Another game in Austria – against WAC RZ Pellets four days later – is followed by a trip to America, where the Blues face Liverpool, Real Madrid and AC Milan.

Conte was quoted by The Guardian as saying: “My future is to go back to working at club level, my future is Chelsea. In a few days’ time the new season will begin. To be honest I’d have liked not to have had a single day’s holiday, that would have meant going forward to the final of the Euros and moving forward.

“Now I will take seven days off, I will try and shift a bit of this disappointment at going out of the competition, before then taking the reigns at Chelsea. I know it will be a significant difficult challenge but that is the sort of challenge I relish.”