Antonio Conte got the sack at Chelsea because he had completely alienated several key players in the dressing room.

It is a familiar story for Chelsea, with their most successful ever manager Jose Mourinho also losing his job a couple years ago in similar circumstances.

While Conte's team were never as low down the league as Mourinho had managed in his final season, missing out on the Champions League was a big issue.

And it appears Chelsea are fighting the fact they have to pay off Conte for the final year of his contract.

They site some of his behaviour in the last year, such as his text message to Diego Costa telling him he was no longer wanted, as a breach of the terms of his contract.

The Blues will replace Conte with Maurizio Sarri imminently, claims Sky Sports.