Antonio Conte is heading for “problems” at Chelsea this season, fears his former team-mate Paolo Di Canio.
Chelsea kick off their title defence against Burnley Sayurday's afternoon and Conte has made no secret about his unhappiness with the strength of his squad heading into the new campaign.
He has brought in four players – Willy Caballero, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata.
Conte has openly admitted he believes this season will be his toughest as a manager.
And Di Canio, who played with Conte at Juventus and is now a Sky Italia pundit, told Italian paper Tuttosport:
“I know Antonio very well and he does this [say season will be his toughest] because he is very clever to handle communications.
“But I think he is also aware that in Diego Costa he is losing that malice which is so necessary to unlock games and to prepare his opponent’s next mistake.
“Conte got Morata who was the best at Real Madrid in terms of goals scored per minutes but he lacks that cantankerous attitude which really helped Chelsea to the title last season.
“Obviously he will also miss Matic because he can adapt to whoever he plays with whereas Conte will need to wait before Bakayoko makes any substantial impact on the game.
“We have seen Chelsea looking totally ordinary in the Community Shield without Eden Hazard – to Chelsea, he is worth what Ronaldo and Messi are worth to Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“I hope to be proved wrong, but also considering that he will have to pick some teams ahead of Champions League games, I think Antonio will have some problems this season.”
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