Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich would be forced to shell out a staggering £26.7m severance pay to sack manager Antonio Conte, according to the Daily Mirror.
The former Juventus coach has come under fire in recent weeks with results leaving the Blues’ title defence in tatters.
Only last summer, the 48-year-old was rewarded for guiding Chelsea to the Premier League title with a new contract until 2021; nine months on and his side look a shadow of their former selves.
Poor results
On Monday evening, Chelsea host West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge as they look to avoid a third consecutive defeat in the league.
The West Londoners find themselves trailing league leaders Manchester City by a substantial gap of 19 points, having lost to both Bournemouth and Watford in the space of the last week.
Then in a weeks time, Conte will be gearing his side up for a huge Champions League last-16 clash with giants Barcelona, in a game which could potentially decide the Italian’s future.
However, with such a huge compensation fee Conte would be owed should he face the sack, Abramovich is reluctant to make a rushed decision on his future.
This afternoon, Conte spoke about his total focus on turning results around at the Bridge:
“I’ve not thought for one moment of the possibility of going away from this club.
My commitment and the commitment of my players is totally for this club.
A lot of time in football the manager and the coach depends on the result.
At the moment we are having a poor result. For this reason we have to pay great attention.
We have to try to stop this bad run and get three points against West Brom.
Every single player knows we have to try to improve the results and play better. Against Watford it was totally negative.”