West Ham's Angelo Ogbonna: I'll show Chelsea coach Antonio Conte what I learned under him

Vaishali Bhardwaj12 August 2016

West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna is ready to show Antonio Conte what he learned under him during their time together in Italy when the Hammers travel to take on the 47-year-old's new side Chelsea on Monday evening.

Ogbonna knows new Blues coach Conte well, having played for the Italian for one season at Juventus while also being part of his squad for the European Championships, where the West Ham centre-back made one start against the Republic of Ireland.

Ogbonna will now come up against his former manager when West Ham kick-off their Premier League campaign with a tricky away trip against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday, which the 28-year-old is relishing as it will give him the chance to demonstrate just how much he learned under Conte.

When asked how it will feel to see Conte sitting in the opposite dugout, Ogbonna told Gazetta dello Sport: "It’s something that has me feeling emotional given what he means to me as a coach, and how we left each other at Euro 2016.

"It was tougher than when I left Juve.

"The European Championship was a complete experience. I really appreciated how he treated me. Even though he hadn’t called me in a year, he judged me based on what I did at the training camp.

"I wanted to be part of the group. I hope I can show him what I learned on the field on Monday.”

Conte will be expected to haul Chelsea back into contention for major trophies in his first season in England, and also steer the Blues into the Champions League after the club failed to qualify for the competition last term.

The Italian has achieved much success during his career, particularly at Juventus where he won three straight Serie A titles, and Ogbonna believes the 47-year-old will do the same in England because of his sheer attention to details.

"I am convinced he will do well because he really looks at the human side of things," Ogbonna said.

"He maintains the rules and doesn’t place any limits on what he can do, which will be appreciated in England. He is a good coach that will find the right way of doing things."

When then asked about West Ham's hopes for the 2016/17 season, he replied: "It will be tough. Last year we did well given expectations weren’t high. Our goal is to continue to improve while keeping our feet on the ground."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in