Chelsea boss Antonio Conte confirms he wants return to Italy and reveals truth on future

Conte is in the sights of AC Milan but he claims reports he was “homesick” was down to a translation issue.

He insists he is happy at Stamford Bridge but hasn’t ruled out a move home when his Blues career is up.

The Chelsea boss said: “I did an interview two weeks ago and the translation was wrong.

“All I said was that one day in the future I would like to go back to Italy.

“But you know my position. I have two years contract with Chelsea and I’m happy to work for this club and with my players. I like to have this great feeling with our fans.

“Every coach, when they start, they work with the club and hope they will stay for a long time and build something important. At the same time, I always say our job is difficult and is strange.”

Conte takes Chelsea to Crystal Palace today with N’Golo Kante (hamstring) and Danny Drinkwater (knee) set to miss the next few weeks.

He added: “Kante is going to have a scan next week to check if his hamstring problem is improving. From the previous scan, maybe he’ll be out for about 20 days.

“In this situation you have to pay great attention and for this reason we are going to do another scan after one week to understand the situation very well. Maybe this scan will be better than the one before.

“It’s a problem and a big loss for us because we know very well the importance of Kante to our team and we don’t have another player with the same characteristic.

“Drinkwater is progressing well but is not ready yet. We must have patience with his calf problem.

“We have to approach seven games in one month and need to find a different solution by adapting defenders into midfielders or by giving opportunities to young players to play from the start.”

Alvaro Morata missed international duty with Spain due to a hamstring injury sustained against Manchester City on September 30 but is expected to return on Wednesday to face Roma.