Chelsea sack Antonio Conte… taking the total they’ve paid to axed bosses in the Roman Abramovich era to a whopping £90million
IT'S been coming, but Chelsea have finally sacked Antonio Conte after months of speculation.
Having won the Premier League in his very first season in England, the Italian struggled to reach those heady heights again last term and finished fifth.
Maurizio Sarri has seemingly been lined-up to take over for weeks now - and has even left Napoli to facilitate the move.
Bizarrely, despite the sacking, Conte, 48, had been seen leading his Chelsea stars through pre-season training.
But now he is gone he is set to pocket a monster £9million to leave Stamford Bridge for good.
Remarkably, it is the NINTH time in the Roman Abramovich era a boss has been handed a monster sum to leave peacefully.
Sacked Chelsea boss pay-outs under Abramovich
Antonio Conte (Jul 18) - £9million
Jose Mourinho (Nov 15) - £9.5m
Roberto Di Matteo (Nov 12) - £10.7m
Andre Villas-Boas (Mar 12) - £12m
Carlo Ancelotti (May 11) - £6m
Luiz Felipe Scolari (Feb 09) - £12.6m
Avram Grant (May 08) - £5.5m
Jose Mourinho (Sep 07) - £18m
Claudio Ranieri (Jun 04) - £6m
TOTAL = £89.3m
In fact, the amount Chelsea have paid outto axed bosses now stands at an incredible £89.3m, including Conte.
Jose Mourinho's first Chelsea sacking in 2007 cost the club an outrageous £18m - with his 2015 firing an additional £9.5m.
Luiz Filipe Scolari (£12.6m), Andre Villas-Boas (£12m) and Roberto Di Matteo (£10.7m) have all cost the club more than £10m to part ways.
Meanwhile, Avram Grant, Claudio Ranieri and Carlo Ancelotti have all cost well over £5m apiece in pay-outs.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LIVE All the latest action, news, goals and gossip from the World Cup
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
Now Chelsea look set for even more financial frustration as they will almost certainly need to pay off EIGHT of Conte's backroom staff.
A range of Italian coaches, including Conte's brother Gianluca, are all tipped to leave, meaning their contracts may need to be paid off.
On top of that, the Blues' failure to make it into the top four cost the club a reported £50m.
That major blow may be one reason Chelsea opted against signing Luis Enrique - who would cost a staggering £15m-a-year.