Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has urged his former club to tie down Antonio Conte’s future.
Conte’s current deal keeps him at the club until 2019 and he has suggested that he wants a extension, but he is yet to put pen-to-paper on a new contract.
Conte, 47, arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer, and he led them to the Premier League title in his first season at the helm.
The Italian also guided the Blues to the final of the FA Cup, and Lampard has urged his former club to tie him down.
“Antonio would be their most important signing – for me he was their man of the season,” Lampard told the Daily Mail.
“You talk about player of the year, I’m all for giving the players credit but because it was such a dramatic uplift from the year before I think you have to give him huge credit.
“You saw the system change and how he made them play in that formation, it worked well.
“I think he’s a huge signing for them. I have no doubts, I don’t know but I’m pretty confident he’ll be there and they’ll bring in players to play in the system he wants to play.”
Conte has managed Italy, Juventus, Siena, Atalanta, Bari and Arezzo in the past, and he also enjoyed a fine playing career.
During his time in Turin with Juve he guided the club to three Serie A titles and two Italian Cup wins.
Lampard, 39, spent 13 years at Chelsea as a player between 2001 and 2014, and during that time he won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a Champions League title.
The former England star amassed 631 appearances across all competitions for the Blues, which yielded 209 goals and 150 assists.