First genuine concerns over the future of Antonio Conte at Chelsea as club will not change it's transfer policy.

With Chelsea crashing out of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal last night, Antonio Conte faced a barrage of questions from the media and once again re-iterated the major issue he has that could force him out the door in the summer. 

To this point I have taken all talk of Antonio Conte leaving Chelsea in the summer as total rubbish and have ignored it and taken the rumour with a pinch of salt because I firmly believe that the club understands just what they have in the Italian.

With his post-match press conference after the defeat to Arsenal, I am not as confident since he is obviously frustrated with life here and the role the club takes in player transfers.

With Willian picking up a hamstring strain that forced him out of the game in the first half, adding to the likes of Alvaro Morata and Cesc Fabregas also injured, Conte once again made comment of the lack of numbers in his squad coupled with the amount of games being played in addition to his obvious frustrations with the board. He said:

"From the summer, the club decides every single player that comes here. Sometimes I can have an impact on this, sometimes you can’t have an impact. My first task is to do my job, to be a coach, to try to improve my players. For sure, I don’t have a big impact on the transfer market.

The situation is always [still] the same from this summer. I repeat: I’m very happy to work with my players. This situation is from this summer, not now. My task is to give everything for this club. In the transfer market, the club has to take the best decision for the team.

When the squad is not big, you have to play with always the same players. This season, I made a lot of rotations. You have to know this. I am crazy if I put the same players in every competitions. But it’s not simple. And I don’t sleep for [because of] this." Source: The Independent.

You can’t blame him if you are honest. It’s got to be so frustrating to see the likes of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jose Mourinho at Manchester United giving their hierarchy the names of the players they want and their board go out and get them.

Here you are employed as Head Coach and the role is to work with the players you have and I just wonder how many of the managers that have walked in/out of the door at the bridge would have done things differently if they had a say in transfers?

The welcome additions of Emerson Palmieri and Edin Dzeko will add numbers to the squad for Conte and much needed options up front as we focus now on the Premier League coupled with our assault on the Champions League with Barcelona waiting in the wings. Ask yourselves the question “Is that enough or do we still need more?”

Defeat last night brought an end to our 12-match unbeaten run which many people forget. For me however, we have to focus on the way we lost the game as yet another example this season of Chelsea dominating a game in one half to then lose their way in the other. We have no alternative and that’s frustrating for me.

Look at last season as the perfect example at home to West Brom, a game where a moment of magic and pure determination from Diego Costa gave us three important points. The opposition turned up to stifle Chelsea’s attack and had done so for an hour. Within that second half, Antonio Conte made a tactical substitution, switched our formation to something different to try and break them down. Ten minutes later, he made another substitution and changed our formation for a THIRD time which led to the goal. That’s the difference between this and last year – we had options to change.

The problem Antonio Conte has is his Premier League success and title win last season with the squad he inherited, players that were already here but for a couple. He did exactly what was asked of him – to coach them, to develop them and to get the best out of what he had here. You would have to imagine that in the boardroom at Stamford Bridge the feeling is that he could repeat what he achieved by using the same method as once again that is the role of a head coach.

Someone needs to have a word with Roman Abramovich here and tell him to let the Italian take over the transfer policy because everyone can see that Conte is world class, one of the best managers in the world with a determination to work hard coupled with a will to win that is up there with anyone else in the game. Give the man what he wants and he could work wonders with this Chelsea team and our club over the course of the next five years. Imagine what he could achieve here with HIS signings.

The problem he faces is that as far as Roman and the Chelsea board are concerned, they have set a precedent here and have the trophies in the cabinet to re-iterate their stance thus far. You would have to agree that around 85% of the decisions they have made, putting the football club first have proved to be a success who why on earth would they want to change that now?

Surely knowing what a gem in Antonio Conte we have here, that should be enough right?