Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Antonio Conte SPOTTED at Watford: The real reason ex-Chelsea boss was at game
ANTONIO CONTE was spotted in the crowd during Watford vs Leicester on Sunday - and this is why he was in attendance.
Watford: Expert praises Capoue after Leicester win
Antonio Conte left Chelsea after two years at the end of last season, but was seen watching the Premier League action at Vicarage Road earlier today.
Conte was spotted alongside Steve Holland, who was his assistant boss at Chelsea.
Holland is now a coach with the FA, but his former colleague was in the area for a completely different reason.
Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur tweeted the reason behind the Italian’s shock appearance, and cited his ongoing legal battle with Chelsea.
“Antonio Conte at Vicarage Road, watching Watford - Leicester. He’s still spending a lot of time in Cobham,” Terreur tweeted on Sunday.
Conte has been open about his struggles with Chelsea in recent weeks, and revealed that he and the club are yet to come to an amicable agreement.
“Chelsea is the past for me now,” the 49-year-old told Italian outlet Calicomercato.
“I don’t want to talk about it, especially as there is still legal action on-going between me and the club.”
Current Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri seems to have steadied the ship after a tough start to the new year, but that didn’t stop Paul Merson suggesing that the club should’ve appointed Brendan Rodgers.
He told The Daily Star: “Chelsea should have gone for Brendan Rodgers and I think Leicester are lucky to have him.
“He’s given up a big job at Celtic to go there and if he can get that dressing room onside, he will be a big success.
“But I’m a bit shocked he’s chosen to go now. I thought he might have waited.
“If Chelsea had told him to wait until the summer because there would be a job for him there, I’m sure he would have. He is one of the best around, a phenomenal manager.
“I’m one of his biggest fans and I would have loved to see him at Chelsea.
“People say he was only successful at Liverpool because he had Luis Suarez but even when you have world class players, you have to get a tune out of them.
“Look at all the players who had the season of their lives there under him.”