Ola Aina shares what was so much harder at Chelsea under Antonio Conte compared to Jose Mourinho

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Nottingham Forest star Ola Aina started out his professional career at Chelsea, where he worked under some high-profile managers as a youngster.

Ola Aina, who’s now 28, has starred this season at right-back for a Nottingham Forest side currently sitting fourth in the Premier League table.

The talented defender actually started out in the Chelsea academy. In fact, he played six senior appearances for the Blues and went on a couple of loan spells before leaving Stamford Bridge permanently in 2019 in search of regular first-team football.

Aina’s enjoyed a great path and developed into a well-rounded full-back, but it feels like he’s gone up a gear in Forest colours since he arrived at the City Ground in 2023. In particular, the Nigeria international has excelled in the 2024/25 campaign so far.

It’s quite telling that Chelsea are interested in re-signing Ola Aina in the summer transfer window because he’s out of contract at the end of the season. Apparently, Forest are working on trying to tie him down to a new deal.

• READ MORE: Where the last 10 Chelsea Academy Player of the Year award winners are playing now

Ola Aina admits training at Chelsea was tougher with Antonio Conte compared to Jose Mourinho

Aina was around the Chelsea group in the mid-2010s at a time when some truly world-class coaches sat in the manager’s dugout.

The current Forest star has praised Jose Mourinho for his impact with the Blues during his second spell as the head coach. However, he said that the intensity of training was actually tougher under one of his successors, Antonio Conte.

Aina said via The Rest Is Football YouTube channel: “Jose was the one that brought me into the first team. I didn’t get my debut under him, but he brought me into the fold.

“I remember being a bit in awe. The first couple of weeks I was a bit intimidated. I wasn’t trying to give him eye contact. But as the training sessions went on, he was actually alright. He’s alright with the young ones from what I remember. It was a good time.

“[Conte]… gave me my debut, 2016/17 season… When it comes to training and matches, very, very demanding. He wants to play football in a certain way, and that’s how he got his message across to the players. We bought into it. It was really tough. I remember the pre-season everyone was out their dying.”

When asked if the training was physically harder under Conte than under Mourinho at Chelsea, Aina responded: “Yeah, yeah. I think definitely. The hardest pre-season I’ve had was with Conte because he just brought different ideas and a different way of training and getting fit. It was difficult for me.”

Back in October 2020, Oscar compared Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho by claiming that the latter was much more of a “figure” around the club.

In fairness, Mourinho and Conte are both in the mix for Chelsea’s best ever manager. While their styles, both on and off the pitch, have some big differences, they both suited the role perfectly at Stamford Bridge.

According to Danny Drinkwater, Antonio Conte would get frustrated with Eden Hazard because he didn’t take training sessions seriously enough for him. Instead, the Belgian attacker turned it on whenever a matchday came around.

Enzo Maresca is trying to walk in the shoes of giants

Any Chelsea manager that arrives in the club can only dream of emulating the success of Blues icons such as Mourinho and Conte.

At the moment, Enzo Maresca is the Blues head coach pulling the strings, and it feels like he needs a strong finish to the season from his side to win over a disgruntled fanbase.

Chelsea plan to keep Enzo Maresca in his role at the club, even though they still face a huge fight to secure Champions League qualification for next season.

The reality is that Chelsea are now a very different football club from the one they were a decade ago.