Chelsea made progress in the transfer market following a slow start to the window, where their only initial recruit was goalkeeper Willy Caballero on a free transfer, but the Blues have secured the additions of three top-class names since.

Tiemoue Bakayoko has arrived to partner N’Golo Kante in central midfield and Antonio Rudiger will give the Blues further options in defence, whilst the addition of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid will act as a direct replacement for the ousted Diego Costa.

However, Chelsea’s wealth of departures this summer that have seen the likes of Asmir Begovic, Nathan Ake and John Terry leave the club has left the Premier League champion lacking significant depth- and things are set to get worse, with Nemanja Matic and Costa both poised to leave.

Conte is keen to get rid of Matic and Costa, who are likely to join Manchester United and Atletico Madrid respectively, but he’s also looking to significantly bolster his options- with widespread reports indicating he’s eyeing three further additions.

Names mentioned include Juventus full-back Alex Sandro, Swansea City striker Fernando Llorente and Southampton defender Virgil Van Dijk but that trio would all command fairly high figures in the market, which means they’re only likely to come off once the sales of Costa and Matic have been finalised.

Whilst Sandro and Van Dijk would likely slot into Chelsea’s first-team immediately, Spanish veteran Llorente would merely be back-up for Morata in attack- and his arrival would raise questions as to what Chelsea plan to do with Michy Batshuayi.

Batshuayi has impressed in the Blues pre-season clashes so far, scoring against Arsenal and Bayern Munich, but the Belgian struggled in his initial season in the Premier League. However, the former Marseille man has shown he has the class to improve on his displays.

With Premier League rivals like Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal all able to select a very strong second XI and to a lesser extent Liverpool and Tottenham, Chelsea need to improve their ranks significantly to keep pace- especially due to their involvement in the Champions League.

The Blues certainly benefitted from a lack of European involvement last season during their charge to Premier League success and they were also fortunate to avoid any major injury concerns- and they’re unlikely to be as lucky this term.