Antonio Conte pays tribute to former Chelsea coach Dermot Drummy

The 56-year-old tragically died on Monday morning

Antonio Conte paid tribute to former Chelsea coach Dermot Drummy after his death on Monday (Getty)

Antonio Conte has paid tribute to the sadly departed former Chelsea coach Dermot Drummy, and said such figures are of “huge importance”.

The 56-year-old tragically died on Monday morning, having worked at Stamford Bridge as a hugely successful academy, reserve and under-21 coach between 2009 and 2016, before leaving to take over Crawley Town.

“Today we had bad news that our former youth team coach, Dermot Drummy, died,” Conte said in a statement. “I want to pass my condolences to his family and friends.”

“I think it is of great importance to have this type of figure to work for Chelsea in the academy, to develop the young players. For sure, this is a big loss.

"This type of person is a great person who have great value for the club. It's not easy to work with the young players. To work with the young players not only on the pitch.

"Maybe especially off the pitch, to teach them what is 'life'. Yes. I think that this is, for sure... we are sorry. This person was very important for this club.”