It has seemed pretty clear from the outset that Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi was not Antonio Conte’s signing. The lack of game time is understandable with Diego Costa being in such good form and the Belgian not getting a look in. But even when Costa has been absent, such as for the league games against Bournemouth and Leicester City, Conte has still overlooked the 23 year old in favour of moving Eden Hazard up top.

If you spend £33million and he hasn’t started one league match in six months, something is certainly not right, and with Sky Sports reporting that Chelsea are looking at making a £30m bid for Celtic’s Moussa Dembele, I think it demonstrates that the Belgian striker’s time at Stamford Bridge will be short lived.

It has been reported that if Chelsea signed Dembele, then Batshuayi would have been allowed to leave on loan, with West Ham the most likely destination. Considering that in the five starts the Belgian has made in the EFL Cup and FA Cup, he has scored four goals, there is certainly a feeling that he may deserve some more time to demonstrate to Conte what he can do.

At Marseille last season, his 23 goals in all competitions, as well as scoring for Belgium at the European Championships, made him one of Europe’s most sought after strikers. Yet, it must be said this was his first season scoring regularly in a major European league.

His first campaign in Ligue One only resulted in ten goals in all competitions, and at his previous club Standard Liege, he had only begun scoring during his third full campaign, scoring 21 goals in the Jupiler League season prior to his move to France. At 23, he does have time to improve his technical ability and his tactical awareness but Conte is a hard taskmaster.

The Italian manager is gunning for the Premier League and he is a ruthless operator. He wants players that work in his system and take on board his tactical instructions. Players even with such vaunted reputations as John Terry, Cesc Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic have had to play second fiddle, and he has already laid down the law to star Diego Costa as well.

With the standards so high it seems clear that Batshuayi is falling short of what Conte expects of a Chelsea player. Perhaps that is why he is after Dembele. In some respects the Frenchman is a similar style player to Batshuayi. He uses his strength and power on the ball to create chances. It may be the case that the Chelsea boss simply sees the Celtic forward as having better potential.

Conte’s former team mate at Juventus, Zinedine Zidane no less, has praised Dembele’s talents and perhaps the Chelsea and Real Madrid manager are of like minds. The French forward has scored 20 goals in all competitions so far this season, and is certainly realising some of his potential already. The arrival of Dembele either this month or in the summer could spell the end of the Belgian’s short stint at the club.

It would seem strange however to see a genuine talent like Michy Batshuayi be allowed to leave by a thorough professional like Antonio Conte without being given a real chance no matter what the position is with Moussa Dembele particularly when the situation with Diego Costa is far from clear.