Chelsea Came Very Close To Appointing Another Manager Before Antonio Conte

Sevilla manager Jorge Sampaoli has revealed he was very close to taking the Chelsea job last summer, before Antonio Conte was installed at Stamford Bridge.

Having taken the Premier League by storm since his arrival, Conte's side are currently runaway leaders of the English top-flight, with Arsenal eight points behind them in second place.

The Italian coach is already something of a hero to the Blues support, but things could have been very different had Sampaoli taken the reigns instead.

He briefly explained on a Spanish radio show last night:

Whilst Conte has been a massive success so far in England, Sampaoli has also enjoyed a brilliant start to life in Seville.

After coaching Chile to the World Cup knock-out stages in 2014, after beating defending champions Spain, Sampaoli has now transformed Sevilla into surprise La Liga title contenders, with the club currently just one point behind leaders Real Madrid and one point ahead of Barcelona.

But how would he have fare in the UK? Would he have done any better than Conte?

This story was first featured on talkingbaws.com - simple, shareable sport. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Topics: Chelsea

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Darren Till, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

@https://twitter.com/NasJabbar