Could Conte be the latest Italian to conquer the Premier League?

goal.com

Managers from Italy have an impressive record in English football, from Roberto Mancini and Carlo Ancelotti to Claudio Ranieri - can the new Blues boss be the latest success?

It is the Italian invasion: of the Premier League, of the top of the table and of the honours board. 

Should Leicester become champions, it will be the third time in seven seasons that the Premier League's managerial mastermind was schooled in Serie A. First Carlo Ancelotti, then Roberto Mancini, now potentially Claudio Ranieri. Over the past 128 years, only England and Scotland have produced more men who have conquered the English top flight. 

Factor in the reality that Roberto Di Matteo gave Chelsea the greatest day in their history, when they won the Champions League in 2012, and it is easy to see why Italians appeal to Roman Abramovich. Look at Antonio Conte’s record and it makes sense why he is Chelsea’s next manager. 

The former Juventus boss joins a club where short-termism is institutionalised. He arrives after his compatriots have emphatically illustrated that they can settle quickly. The record of Conte's Italian predecessors suggests there is no need for seasons of transitions for newcomers from the country. 

The Premier League's previous Italians have quickly settled despite the differences. Italian football and the English game can appear to be opposites. Serie A is slower, more tactical, radically different. Yet it is a tribute to Italian managers, many of whom grew up in an era when their compatriots rarely ventured abroad, that they have made such a seamless shift. 

They have shown an enviable adaptability. Ancelotti led Chelsea to the title in his debut campaign. He took more points (86 rather than 74), scored more goals (103 over 70), conceded fewer (35 to 32) and won more games (27 instead of 22) than in his final year at AC Milan, when he had eight seasons to shape his side. 

Ancelotti is an extreme example, but others have improved by swapping their homeland for a foreign clime. Francesco Guidolin’s points-per-game ratio is better with Swansea than it was in his final campaign with Udinese. Ranieri averaged 1.32 points per league match in his final campaign with Fiorentina, 1.72 in his first at Chelsea, even if they were interrupted by a spell in Spain. His record with supposedly lowly Leicester is superior to his results with Inter Milan, his last Serie A job. The only exception is Roberto Mancini: even then, after arriving mid-season in 2009-10, he steered Manchester City into the top five. His first full season culminated in their first top-three finish for 34 years. He won their first league title for 44. 

Mancini still took slightly fewer points per game in England than Italy. Ancelotti and Ranieri averaged more. The latter may be the outlier. Leicester managed 41 points last season. They could double that tally this year. It is a level of improvement that is off the charts. But statistics show Italians can perform better in England. He never won the Scudetto in 12 seasons in Serie A. He could succeed in his fifth campaign in England. Ancelotti had one title win to show for 13 years in the top flight in his homeland and one in just two Premier League campaigns. 

Part of Conte’s appeal lies in his ability to make an immediate impact. Juventus had finished seventh in each of the two seasons before his appointment. He won Serie A at the first attempt, not to mention the second and the third. As Chelsea might finish seventh this season, they must see that as a favourable omen. 

Juventus went from 58 points without him to 84 with him. A 26-point improvement could turn Chelsea from underachievers to achievers. They must hope he can replicate another element of his early effect; Conte showed a brilliant decisiveness before his Juve team had played a competitive game. 

The Italian coach signed twin catalysts, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal, in the summer of 2011. They were his A-team in midfield, permitting a radical improvement in the centre of the pitch. The lower-profile Stephan Lichtsteiner was a wing-back who facilitated a transformation in tactics. 

Compatriots such as Ancelotti and Ranieri have prospered largely by improving the players they inherited. They have taken their own record in Serie A and fared better abroad. Conte averaged 1.95 points per game in his homeland, a ratio that went up with every season in Turin. His champions claimed first 84, then 87 and finally 102 points. 

To put it another way, they only dropped 12 in his final year. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea had mislaid more by the end of September this season. Conte’s record bodes well, so do the precedents of the Italian imports who have excelled in England. Perhaps the only surprise is that more clubs have not turned to Serie A for seriously good managers.