Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has slammed newspaper reports that claim a number of his players had made contact with former assistant manager Steve Holland telling him they miss him and were unhappy with the club’s current training regime under the Italian.

Rumours had circulated that a number of stars were unhappy with Conte, and that former boss Carlo Ancelotti was in line to replace him at Stamford Bridge, but Conte was quick to shut down the rumours – calling them ‘b*******’.

Speaking about the reports involving Steve Holland, the former Italy boss said: “A lot of b*******. It’s creating problems between me and the club, me and the players.

“But if someone is happy to write this… It’s a lack of respect.

“I can accept that they write the club is ready to sack me, and accept stories with the players, but to use another person in this way is not correct.

“And then this person has to send me a message and say ‘it’s not true’. Why put another person in this position. I hate this sort of situation.”

Chelsea’s head of communications Steve Atkins continued saying: “These stories are absolute nonsense.

“One story earlier in the week said Steve Holland had been contacted by players at Chelsea. Absolute nonsense.

“If the media organisation had bothered to check with Steve, then he would have told them no player had contacted him.”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]