One of Conte’s favorite sayings is “A coach is like a tailor, what he creates depends on the fabric he has to work with” and he certainly has lived up to these words with the way he manages. Conte arrived at Juventus after using a 4 man defense at his previous coaching stops, but he quickly switched to a 3 5 2 formation to accommodate 3 excellent center backs and to take advantage of Vidal’s dynamic style of play.
But while Conte has shown he’s flexible with his formations based on the squadS at his disposal (with the Italian national team he has used 3 5 2, 4 2 4 and more recently 3 4 3) he has always been involved with acquiring the players for his previous clubs. As a matter of fact, not being able to get the players he wanted was one of the main factors for his departures from Juventus and Bari (their president was also surprised Conte wanted to keep using his offensive 4 2 4 upon getting promoted to Serie A).
Conte discussed his transfer market mantra in his autobiography “Testa, Cuore, Gambe" ("Mind, Heart, Legs")- he went into great detail on how he collaborated with Juventus sporting director Paratici as well as executive director Marotta. Conte often scouted players with Paratici, he described a Switzerland match in which they went to see Lichtsteiner and Inler in person.
Conte was very impressed by Lichtsteiner, but felt that Inler was too similar to Pirlo (a player Juve had already signed) so he made his recommendations to Marotta who then closed the deal with Lazio. Lichtsteiner ended up being a key player for Conte's Juventus, a hard working wing player who could play in both the 3 5 2 as well 4 man defense and had Iron Lungs like Method Man (Conte loves versatile players who give great effort).
While Conte likes to be very involved with transfer moves, he also isn't afraid to rely on his collaborators. As mentioned Juventus already had an agreement with Pirlo before hiring Conte, and sporting director Paratici was on verge of closing the deal for Vidal- Conte admitted not being very familiar with the Chilean but he certainly was able to get the most out of him.
So what can we expect from Conte at Chelsea? So far Di Marzio has linked the Blues to Nainggolan, Cuadrado and Cavani- not surprisingly three players that Conte knows very well from their time in Serie A and who fit the characteristics he likes.
Nainggolan could be his new Vidal. As the Belgian midfielder's current coach at Roma, Luciano Spalletti, recently mentioned assigning a specific role to Nainggolan is too limiting- he's very good in both the defensive and offensive phase, his ability to tackle is matched by his penchant for scoring. Nainggolan's physical style is very well suited for the Premier League so it's no surprise Conte wants him to bring his tenacity to Chelsea.
Cuadrado has been Conte's Holy Grail on the transfer market. One of the main reasons why he left Juve was the bianconeri's inability to sign the Colombian winger from arch rivals Fiorentina. While Conte was achieving great results in Serie A, he felt the best way to get Juve over the hump in the Champions League was to improve on the wings- this would allow him to have more formation flexibility.
As you know, Cuadrado eventually arrived at Juventus but well after Conte had left- and this is where it gets interesting. Cuadrado struggled at Chelsea in his first half season in Premier League, he joined Juventus on loan (without a formal option to buy) last summer and has been a very productive player for Allegri. He brings dribbling ability and blazing speed, two attributes that are scarce on Juve’s squad- Juventus would like to keep him (and Cuadrado has never hid fact that he really enjoys playing in Italy) but Conte heading to Chelsea is a game changer.
Conte has always wanted to coach Cuadrado, and for those of you who think Serie A is not a good barometer to say if a player can perform in Premier League, it’s important to consider that Cuadrado played some of his best games this season against Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Cuadrado would allow Conte to be flexible in his formations at Chelsea, and the player should be more confident after a good stretch at Juve on top of having a coach who really believes in him.
Di Marzio recently linked Chelsea to Cavani (in the article about Morata’s future), who is also a transfer target for Manchester United and Juventus. While Cavani’s brand has suffered in Ligue 1, the Uruguayan striker was sensational at Napoli, he scored 78 Serie A goals in 104 matches playing in his natural central striker position which he hasn’t been able to do with Ibrahimovic as a teammate (should Zlatan not extend his contract at PSG, Cavani could stay in France’s capital).
In addition to his scoring ability, Cavani has the work rate that Conte demands from his strikers. During his time at Juventus, Conte didn’t have a big name attacker until Carlos Tevez arrived during the coach’s third season in Turin. Prior to having the Apache, Conte had to rely on his midfielders scoring a significant amount of the goals- and strikers like Matri, Quagliarella and Vucinic were very valuable in creating spaces for their teammates.
After two years coaching the Italian national team, Conte is very eager to get back to coaching a club. He misses the daily interaction with players and the weekly challenges of preparing a team for a game. But before that happens, he will want to be very involved in finding the right fabric to create a masterpiece.
