Antonio Conte signed a three-year deal worth £6.5million a year when he joined in the summer, and the Italian has proved a major success after an uncertain start, with Chelsea looking almost certain to land the title with a 10-point lead at the top of the table with 13 games to go.
The new deal, which will look to tie Conte to Stamford Bridge until 2021, is expected to be agreed at the end of the season, but initial talks have begun with Conte’s advisors, Express Sport understands.
The Premier League‘s top managerial earners – Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jose Mourinho at Manchester United – both collect around £12m a year with former Chelsea manager Mourinho bringing in another £10m with various endorsements.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger earns around £8.3m a year, Liverpool chief Jurgen Klopp £7m, and Everton’s manager Ronald Koeman is level with Conte on around £6.5m.
Chelsea are intensely aware that several clubs in Conte’s native Italy want to take the former national team and Juventus supremo back to Serie A – particularly Inter Milan, whose new Chinese owners are willing to pay him around £10.2m a year and give him a major transfer budget.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is close to Conte and a frequent visitor to the club’s Cobham training ground, where he has lunched with his manager.
The Russian does not want Conte to leave but wants to wait until the title is clinched before finalising new contract details. However, moves are being put in place to ensure that can be done quickly once the season finishes.
Source in Italy close to Conte insist the only way the 47-year-old would leave Chelsea would be if his relationship with Abramovich broke down, and that shows no signs of happening in the immediate future. Conte’s wife Elisabetta and daughter Vittoria are due to move to England permanently in the summer.
But that close relationship is unlikely to stop Conte using Inter’s interest in him as a bargaining tool for getting the best possible deal out of Abramovich in the next few weeks.
Chelsea awarded 11 of Conte’s backroom staff new three-year deals in December, tying all of them to the club until 2020 at least.
Meanwhile, one of Conte’s major successes this season, wing-back Victor Moses, has signed a new two-year deal keeping him at the club until 2021.
The 26-year-old, a fringe player under previous managers who has had spells on loan at Liverpool, Stoke and last season West Ham since joining Chelsea in August 2012, has been transformed under Conte.
Switching to wing-back in the Italian’s 3-4-3 system, the former Crystal Palace and Wigan winger, who cost Chelsea £9m, has been a revelation as Conte’s team have surged to the top of the table.
The Nigeria international said: “‘I feel very excited. I’m delighted to be here for another few years now and to sign a new deal.
“Now it’s time to concentrate on the team and keep working hard to make sure we win games and try to win the Premier League this season.
“We’re having a great season, I’m enjoying my football and we have a good manager here that has given every single one of us confidence. I just want to keep on enjoying it and working hard for the team.”
Moses has started every Premier League game since the 2-0 win at Hull on October 1.
Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi looks set to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer if he cannot get any assurances of first-team football.
The 23-year-old cost £33.1m from Marseille in the summer, but has not started a single Premier League game under Conte.
Batshuayi was linked with a move to West Ham, who also tried to sign him last summer, but Conte has even used Eden Hazard as a makeshift striker when top scorer Diego Costa has not been available.
