Rumors surfaced early Friday that Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is considering quitting the club because the board isn’t backing him in the transfer window. While reports surfaced afterwards that the Premier League title winner is happy at the club, the end point remains the same. Chelsea cannot afford to lose Antonio Conte.

The Italian manager arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer after one of the worst Chelsea seasons in recent memory and the worst title defense ever, until Leicester’s this past season. There were rumors of extreme discontent in the locker room and star striker Diego Costa, who I’ll talk more about in a minute, almost returned to Atletico Madrid until the Italian convinced him to stay. He restored order to a club in disarray within a couple months and took his place at the top of the Premier League at the first time of asking. The Chelsea board owes him the utmost respect for doing what Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola were unable to do for the Manchester clubs and become the league’s dominant club.

Some fans and members of the Chelsea board are reportedly unhappy with the way Conte treated Diego Costa, telling the Spaniard that he was no longer needed over text message, which is the worst way to be broken up with. By making Costa’s availability public, the price for the striker has certainly gone down so it’s understandable why the board would be a little upset.

Players, however, can be replaced while great managers don’t come around every day. Conte guided an average Italy squad to the Euro 2016 quarterfinals. He came to the Premier League and made the 3-4-3 a trendy formation. He won the league largely with the same players that reportedly loss trust in Jose Mourinho last season and turned strugglers like Pedro and Victor Moses into key first-team players.

Big clubs are now starting to do most of their transfer business as early as possible to prevent their top targets being stolen and give the team as much time to gel together as possible. The Chelsea board doesn’t need to spend over 200 million pounds like the Manchester clubs but additions besides a backup goalkeeper need to be made.

A board with pockets as deep as Chelsea’s will surely show their manager they are willing to do whatever he thinks is needed. There is no reason to hire a manager you don’t completely trust, and if a lack of transfer movement is upsetting Conte, Chelsea needs to pull out their cheque book. Losing a manager like Antonio Conte would be more detrimental to the Blues than Costa, Thibaut Courtois or even Eden Hazard leaving. It was Conte’s system and strategy that turned the Premier League on its head. The club can’t afford to have him leave.

Guest post contributed by Jack Radetic