Chelsea boss Antonio Conte ready to ditch coach Christophe Lollichon to keep Thibaut Courtois happy

CHELSEA are ready to ditch goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon to keep Thibaut Courtois happy.

The Blues No1 does not get on with the Frenchman, who has been at the club for nine years.

And Antonio Conte has been linked with a move for Italy coach Gianluca Spinelli as he tries to cling on to Courtois.

Petr Cech was flogged to Arsenal last summer as Courtois was picked as the man to take the club forward.

But the Belgian was one of several Blues stars to underperform last season during a disastrous title defence.

Courtois has not looked comfortable commanding his area since his highly successful two-year loan spell at Atletico Madrid finished.

But Conte is determined to keep the talented keeper at Stamford Bridge and will do anything to make it happen.

Spinelli is working at Euro 2016 with Italy and Chelsea are believed to have already made an approach.

Lollichon - credited with Cech's superb form for Chelsea - has clashed with Courtois over certain training regimes,

The 24-year-old has been linked with a move to Real Madrid but Blues chiefs are increasingly confident he will stay.

That would spell the end for Lollichon, with Asmir Begovic also likely to leave.

Chelsea have already been linked with a move for France backup Steve Mandanda.

Having worked with Cech at Rennes, Lollichon moved to Stamford Bridge to work with the Arsenal stopper.

Gerry Peyton is currently the Arsenal goalkeeping coach but is not secure in his job.

And Cech paid tribute to Lollichon after breaking the Premier League clean sheet record.

He said: “There are so many different ways you can catch a ball in different situations so you try to find the best way to get faster on the floor and to be more agile.

“This is how I started. I had certain things I was doing and then he said ‘well, why don't you try this because I think you will reach further?’

“I didn't think it would be possible, but then I started doing it and I realised he was right. I could reach further. This is something we started off and then when you go and feel that's interesting, we look at the position of the goalkeeper in terms of the defence — how high you go and all these situations.”