Antonio Conte could earn millions away from the pitch CREDIT: EPAAntonio Conte is aiming to extend his rivalry with Jose Mourinho away from the football pitch as he looks to cash in on last season’s Premier League title success with Chelsea.
As well as being offered a contract extension to become the highest-paid manager in Chelsea’s history on £9.6 million a year, Conte has agreed to work with booking agency MN2S.
The London-based company are responsible for finding branding, endorsement and appearance work for Conte in an attempt to pocket the Italian millions in extra earnings.
But he faces a tough task to get close to Mourinho, who is the most endorsed manager in world football. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ earns around £10m-a-year on top of his £12m Manchester United wages.
Mourinho’s latest big sponsorship deal was a £4m agreement with Heineken, adding to his remarkable list of commercial deals with Hublot watches, Jaguar, BT Sport, Adidas, Atlantis hotels, Lipton Tea and EA Sports.
The Portuguese is represented in commercial deals by the American talent agency CAA, who moved into football, but Conte has chosen to go with MN2S, who are not so well known in the football world.
Mourinho earns £10m-a-year on top of his Manchester United earnings CREDIT: APFounded by Sharron Elkabas, David Elkabas and Tim Burnett, MN2S describes itself as ‘an international booking agency, global music distributor and label management company’. It claims to ‘operate in over 100 countries, working with a diversity of celebrities, sports personalities, music artists, DJs, producers and independent labels,
With a large and varied roster of music acts, MN2S claim to work with the likes of Boy George, Peter Andre, Dionne Warwick, DJ Yoda and Public Enemy. In terms of sport, Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright and Vitali Klitschko are listed on the company’s website. Keith Chegwin is on their ‘talent roster’.
To put into perspective the difference between the two men until now, Mourinho used to keep a big box of branded designer scarves in his office at Chelsea to wear in cold conditions, while Conte last season raided the club shop for a cap to protect him from the elements.
Keith Chegwin is also on the agency's 'talent roster' CREDIT: GEOFF PUGH
He joked that he should get a sponsorship deal with a lozenge company after Telegraph Sport revealed that he was shipping in Italian throat sweets to prevent him losing his voice.
On the way to Chelsea’s title success, Conte was annoyed by the fact Thibaut Courtois injured his ankle in a basketball promotional shoot that ruled the goalkeeper out of the defeat to Mourinho’s United at Old Trafford.
But it seems the 47-year-old will now have to juggle his hard work ethic with lucrative promotional work. Wearing sunglasses, he bizarrely made a brief appearance in a grime music video with MC Eyez that emerged at the start of this month.
While Conte attempts to make the most of his earning potential, he is hoping to hear of a breakthrough in Chelsea’s attempts to splash the cash this summer.
Chelsea are concluding a £35m deal for Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko and are expected to make new bid for Juventus left-back Alex Sandro. Conte wants either Virgil van Dijk or Leonardo Bonucci to strengthen the centre of defence and talks are ongoing regarding a bid to re-sign striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton.
Chelsea also retain an interest in Riyad Mahrez and Ross Barkley, but will not meet the current asking prices set by Leicester City and Everton.
Diego Costa, who wants to return to Atletico Madrid, Nemanja Matic and Nathan Ake, who is wanted by Bournemouth and Southampton, could all be on their way out during the summer transfer window.
He joked that he should get a sponsorship deal with a lozenge company after Telegraph Sport revealed that he was shipping in Italian throat sweets to prevent him losing his voice.
On the way to Chelsea’s title success, Conte was annoyed by the fact Thibaut Courtois injured his ankle in a basketball promotional shoot that ruled the goalkeeper out of the defeat to Mourinho’s United at Old Trafford.
But it seems the 47-year-old will now have to juggle his hard work ethic with lucrative promotional work. Wearing sunglasses, he bizarrely made a brief appearance in a grime music video with MC Eyez that emerged at the start of this month.
While Conte attempts to make the most of his earning potential, he is hoping to hear of a breakthrough in Chelsea’s attempts to splash the cash this summer.
Chelsea are concluding a £35m deal for Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko and are expected to make new bid for Juventus left-back Alex Sandro. Conte wants either Virgil van Dijk or Leonardo Bonucci to strengthen the centre of defence and talks are ongoing regarding a bid to re-sign striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton.
Chelsea also retain an interest in Riyad Mahrez and Ross Barkley, but will not meet the current asking prices set by Leicester City and Everton.
Diego Costa, who wants to return to Atletico Madrid, Nemanja Matic and Nathan Ake, who is wanted by Bournemouth and Southampton, could all be on their way out during the summer transfer window.
Source: Matt Law - Telegraph UK
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