Three weeks to sort out Conte’s mess
YESTERDAY’S calamitous first half at Stamford Bridge may have been a blessing in disguise for Chelsea.
This squad is nowhere near ready and Antonio Conte has 19 days to sort out this mess.
The fact the Chelsea manager handed 20-year-old Jeremie Boga his senior debut told its own story. Conte’s squad is threadbare and needs reinforcements fast. So where does he begin? Replacing Nemanja Matic would be a start, especially as the N’Golo Kante/Matic axis was vital to Chelsea’s titlewinning campaign by providing protection in the 3-5-2 formation.
Summer-signing Tiemoue Bakayoko could be the answer, but the former Monaco man is still recovering from a knee injury.
Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater is high on the list of candidates to replace Matic, whose move to Manchester United is known to have angered the Italian.
Upgrading both wing-back positions is also high on the manager’s agenda. Victor Moses, who missed yesterday’s defeat through suspension, made the right-sided role his own last season.
But, at the very least, Chelsea require someone to push the Nigeria international. Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has already been the subject of a failed £25million bid while Paris Saint Germain’s Serge Aurier and Inter Milan’s Antonio Candreva are both on the right-sided list.
Marcos Alonso also faces competition for his place. Juventus’s Alex Sandro is Conte’s No 1 target for left wing-back and Chelsea aren’t ruling out a move for Tottenham’s Danny Rose.
Similarly, if Southampton show any inkling of softening their stance on Virgil van Dijk, then expect Chelsea to be at the front of the queue for the centre-back.
There’s plenty of work to be done. Conte will want to know why it wasn’t done sooner.