Presumably before the season began Paul Merson had no idea why Chelsea would employ a man with no Premier League experience as the man to win them back the title. But now Antonio Conte is on the verge of a pay rise.
Merson, along with Sky Sports colleague Phil Thompson, was recently admonishing Hull City for choosing a foreign manager who didn't know the league ahead of a Brit who'd been here before.
Of course that has been proved to be ridiculous with the Tigers looking capable of staying up under Marco Silva when they were previously nowhere near that.
So lord knows what the former Arsenal forward thought of Chelsea appointing Conte and not, say, David Moyes.
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But Conte has done wonders, taking Chelsea to top of the table and looking likely to win the league. And according to the Daily Mail should he win the league then Roman Abramovich will offer the former Juve boss a new contract with a pay rise.
The paper doesn't say how much Conte would earn in a new deal but do say that he's currently on £6.5 million-a-year and a new deal would take him near the £15 million that Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola make.
The former Italy manager's stock has risen in just a short time in England and the Blues would offer him a new deal despite being only eight months into his three year deal.
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Inter Milan were recently linked with a move to bring the 47 year old back to Italy at the end of the season. Those reports suggested they would pay him £250k-a-week.
Before moving to England the former Juventus defender turned down a move to manage in the Chinese Super League where he would have made a hell of a lot of money.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Chelsea, Antonio Conte