Conte hints Chelsea are willing to let Luiz and Batshuayi leave

Antonio Conte has suggested he will not stand in the way of David Luiz or Michy Batshuayi if either player were to decide he wants to leave Chelsea this month.

But the head coach insisted the club could not afford to let anybody go without replacing them, even though he would not be hitting the phones to get deals done during this transfer window.

Luiz is close to returning from injury, but has dropped behind Andreas Christensen in Conte’s defensive plans since falling out with the Italian earlier in the season.

Batshuayi has started only two Premier League games this term, and Conte has preferred to play Eden Hazard as a ‘false nine’ ahead of the Belgian when Alvaro Morata has been out. Batshuayi is not unhappy at Chelsea, but wants to play enough to be sure of his place in Belgium’s World Cup squad, while Luiz will not be satisfied with returning from injury to the substitutes’ bench.

“I was a player, I will understand if someone is worried about the World Cup,” said Conte. “I understand it’s very important to keep players very happy to stay here to work with us, and I think this must be our priority. At the same time, I was a player and I will understand if someone is thinking in this way [that they need to play more].”

He added: “Our squad is not big and for this reason I think it’s impossible to send on loan one player or to sell one player if we don’t take another player.” Conte has shown that he only wants to work with happy players by selling Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic last summer.

Chelsea want to strengthen their attacking and defensive options, with Thomas Lemar, of Monaco, Alex Sandro, of Juventus, and Porto’s Alex Telles on their radar, while they have moved to try to beat Tottenham Hotspur to midfielder Ross Barkley.

But Conte said he will not be involved in negotiations himself. Asked whether or not he would be busy on the phone this month, Conte replied: “No, I changed the number. I think there is maybe this habit here, but I am not involved in the transfer market. I give my opinion, but the club decides the players they want to buy, to invest in.”