Conte vows to shake Mazzarri’s hand

Antonio Conte insists his bust-ups with Walter Mazzarri are in the past and will shake his hand at Chelsea’s game at Watford tomorrow.

The duo had a series of fall-outs in Serie A when Conte was in charge of Juventus and Mazzarri was at Napoli.

But Conte has revealed their differences have been resolved and were on good terms when they met at a meeting of Premier league managers before the campaign began.

Both are new to English football and the Chelsea boss said: “I saw him in the meeting with the coaches. I spoke with him about this new experience. It’s a great challenge also for him.

“I saw him very focused about this experience. When we were in the Italian championship and fought for the title, Juventus against Napoli, yes (things happen)…but when you stay up, when you are fighting for a title, everyone thinks about his own club. “But the relationship is very normal. I have great respect for him and for his work. He’s a good manager. I will shake his hand, no problem. But I repeat: I saw him at the coaches’ meeting and spoke with him, with the assistant coach too.

“I think that every manager has his own idea of football. For this reason, I think every manager is different to each other.

“Not only me and Mazzarri, but me and all the others. Every coach brings his own idea of football and it’s right for that. I study to get my own ideas and the other managers study (to get) their own ideas.”