Chelsea are now just one week away from the Community Shield clash with Arsenal at Wembley, which will raise the curtains for the new Premier League season, but many will feel the Blues have work to do in the market before then.
Antonio Conte has drafted Willy Caballero, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata to his squad but the losses of Nathan Ake, Asmir Begovic and John Terry have reduced the depth significantly- and things will only get worse when Nemanja Matic and Diego Costa seal their inevitable exits.
The Italian boss has made it clear he’s keen to secure further additions in the market as he looks to avoid the dramatic failure the Blues endured two seasons ago, when the defending champions, then led by Jose Mourinho, faltered domestically and had a season to forget.
Those issues should be fresh in the memory for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and the Russian billionaire should certainly be concerned that Conte is actively seeking new additions, as it shows the boss isn’t confident of his side’s chances with their current crop.
Quoted by The Telegraph, Conte has once again made a plea for more signings as he said:
“We know the next season will be tough and we want to avoid what happened in the previous season for Chelsea, two years ago, when the team finished in 10th place in the Premier League. We want to try to avoid this. I want to try to avoid what happened two seasons ago.”
“Two coaches have been sacked from Chelsea and Leicester after winning the league and I want to avoid this and the players want to avoid the bad season they had with Mourinho. We are working very well and we hope to find the best solution in the future. We have a lot of young players and if necessary we will have to try to play these players.”