Does Antonio Conte Need to Sign Anymore Players at Chelsea?

Who said football managers aren’t important? Well, try telling Chelsea that.

For a club with a chequered history with those appointed to lead their team, it’s perhaps ironic that this summer it’s the Blues who have reinforced the value of having a talented individual at the helm.

It’s been barely a fortnight since Antonio Conte took official control at Stamford Bridge. Yet in his brief time in charge, Chelsea are beginning to look much the stronger for it.

From lacking any sense of direction come the end of 2015-16, the Italian has set Chelsea back on the right track. The Blues look strong again; dare we say it, they will be a force next season.

These changing perceptions haven’t been influenced by Conte opening the cheque book, either. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Despite making just two signings that total around £60 million—Michy Batshauyi and N’Golo Kante have arrived from Marseille and Leicester City respectively—Conte has galvanised Chelsea’s squad to give it more depth and strength.

We were expecting a switch to 3-5-2 by the former Juventus boss, mirroring what he did in Turin and with the Italian national team. That raised questions about the future of some players and how they would fit in. The immediate response was that Chelsea would have to spend big to meet Conte’s needs if he was to deliver.

Instead, pre-season has given us a 4-2-4 and suddenly Chelsea have depth in places we didn’t realise they did. Diego Costa is well supported in attack by the arrival of Batshuayi, not to mention having Bertrand Traore in reserve. There’s also an argument to suggest Eden Hazard could be Chelsea’s second striker in this new system, opening up all sorts of possibilities for how the attacking line will operate.

With a need for wingers, Chelsea have numbers. Conte has Pedro, Willian and Kenedy to consider, not to mention Victor Moses, who has impressed in Chelsea’s two outings thus far.

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