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Conte: Holland had to answer England's call

Antonio Conte will be disappointed to lose his Chelsea assistant Steve Holland to England but understands the draw of coaching your country.

The Football Association confirmed on Wednesday that Holland would serve as number two to Gareth Southgate having assisted during the latter's interim spell in charge of the Three Lions.

Conte left Juventus in 2014 to lead Italy and masterminded their run to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, by which time the draw of day-to-day club involvement had proved impossible to resist and he had his contract with Chelsea in place.

Holland will combine duties until the end of this season before focusing full-time on England and Conte said: "Steve is a very good professional and he's been helping me a lot with my experience in Chelsea because he has great experience with this club.