Chelsea’s Conte is candidate for vacant Italy job

Current Chelsea boss and former Italy manager Antonio Conte is listed as the favorite to fill open Italy position.

Carlo Tavecchio, current president of the Italian Football Federation, has not been coy with who he prefers to replace Gian Piero Ventura. Among names like Carlo Ancelotti, Massimiliano Allegri and Roberto Mancini, Conte is at the top of the list. The only unemployed manager is Ancelotti. Earlier this season, Bayern Munich sacked him after a poor start.

Conte, on the other hand, is the current manager of the defending Premier League champions, Chelsea. While reports surface every once in a while about him being unhappy, Conte is committed to being at Chelsea. He won a title in his first season and is in third place in his second. Since he was the Italian manager before he left for Chelsea, it seems unlikely that he would return to his post.

His success at the international level was apparent, especially after taking Italy to the quarterfinals of the Euro in 2016. Tavecchio has many reasons to prefer Conte over the other candidates. For the sake of their own jobs, the Italian Football Federation needs to hire the right manager. Missing the World Cup is a huge blow to a perennial powerhouse like Italy, and they must find a solution to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

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The Italian managerial position is an attractive job opening, and multiple managers will be willing to assume the position. Conte may be the number one choice, but he may also be the hardest to convince. Allegri at Juventus and Mancini at Zenit Saint-Petersburg both appear to be more plausible — especially since Allegri has already expressed interest in being manager of the Italian team. Conte is the top choice, but whoever the federation chooses, they will be more than qualified for the position, unlike Ventura.