Antonio
Conte wants to win trophies "straight away" at Chelsea, and his style is
exactly what the club need next season, insists Cesc Fabregas.
The Italian will leave his national team post in the summer to join Chelsea,
replacing interim manager Guus Hiddink.
Chelsea, out of contention for the top four, may struggle to attract
Europe's finest players without the lure of Champions League football, but
Fabregas says Conte will not use any excuses and will want instant success
at Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniard said on
Monday Night Football: "From what I've heard,
and it's probably proved by so many professionals talking about him, he's
disciplined, he's a winner and he's a competitor.
"That's what we need. Someone that will always be on our back to push us and
make us work hard, teaching us new things; the things he wants to do and
achieve.
"All I know is that he wants to win straight away. No more transition, no
more excuses. He wants to win and for that we'll have to be prepared from
day one."
Conte won three Serie A titles with Juventus before resigning in 2014 and
the guided the Italian national team to an unbeaten European Championship
qualification campaign, winning seven and drawing three of their 10 matches.
Italy have been drawn in Group E for the finals, along with Belgium, Sweden
and Republic of Ireland, and Chelsea fans can get a glimpse of his playing
style in the summer, which Fabregas revealed he has already studied.
"I love football and I've been studying a little bit what he does with his
previous teams. I played against his Italy recently and it's really
interesting.
"You can see that he loves offensive football and you can see that
tactically his teams are so well organised."
Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in December after last season's Premier
League champions suffered a poor first five months to the season.
But Fabregas insists the players at Chelsea let Mourinho down, and that the
Portuguese manager's biggest downfall was handing too much freedom to the
squad having won the league by eight points last term.
"A lot has been said, and many wrong things about that situation. I love
Jose and consider him even my friend, we still keep in touch now and some of
the things said were unfortunate.
"I think his biggest problem was that he trusted us too much. He gave us
more holiday because we were champions, he believed in us more, trusted us
more, and we let him down. The whole team, all the players.
"That was the main reason why at the end he had to go. And for that, myself
and all the team, will feel bad for him."
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