Author: Adam

Chelsea’s new head coach Antonio Conte believes that the club’s absence from the Champions League could be a blessing in disguise as they bid to re-capture the Premier League title.

Last season was Chelsea’s worst of the Roman Abramovich era, with José Mourinho leaving the club in December having masterminded the Blues’ worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s. Abramovich decided to pull the plug on the second reign of the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ after they endured the worst ever defence of a Premier League title.

Mourinho was replaced by Guus Hiddink on an interim basis, much as Luis Felipe Scolari had been in 2009 when the Brazilian was also removed from the managerial hot-seat when Chelsea were under-performing. Back then Hiddink won the FA Cup with the Blues and led them to a third-placed finish, but this time around he couldn’t repeat the trick.

Chelsea were beaten in the FA Cup quarter-final by Everton in a stormy match at Goodison Park, as former Stamford Bridge striker Romelu Lukaku scored twice and both Diego Costa and Gareth Barry were sent off. The Spaniard appeared to bite the Everton midfielder, but the Football Association decided not to extend a ban to him in the same way that they had to Liverpool striker Luis Suarez when he did the same thing to Chelsea player Branislav Ivanovic.

The Dutchman also couldn’t help the Blues to recover from their poor start to the campaign and they ended the Premier League season in tenth place, missing out on the Champions League for the first time since Abramovich bought the West London club.

However former Italy national team manager Conte is not convinced that missing out on the Champions League is actually all that disastrous for the Blues’ upcoming league campaign. The club’s riches mean that they can still attract top players and the lack of a European distraction means that they can concentrate fully on the Premier League.

Speaking to the London newspaper the Evening Standard Conte said, “Not playing in the Champions League could be an opportunity because I will be able to work more with my players. If you ask me if I prefer this situation, I don’t because Chelsea must be in this competition. But because we are not, I will have a whole week to train with my players and that gives me a chance to work with them more compared to Chelsea managers in previous seasons”.

With the former Juventus player and manager known to play to a specific system there’s little doubt that time on the training ground will give him an advantage that previous Chelsea managers did not enjoy. Given that Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal and Leicester are all in the Champions League and former Blues manager Mourinho’s new club Manchester United are in the Europa League, Chelsea and Liverpool are in the fortunate position of having no European football to distract them from a siege on the Premier League title.

Conte was quick to point out that Chelsea need to return to the Champions League as soon as possible, however. The only time the club have finished outside the top four since Abramovich bought it from Ken Bates was in 2012 when they won it under Roberto Di Matteo’s management. Conte said, “You do feel like you’re missing something when you’re not involved in the Champions League. It is a special competition and you want to play in it every year”.

German side Schalke have signed Chelsea defender Baba Rahman on a season-long loan, it has been revealed.

Rahman signed for the Blues in August of last year when José Mourinho was the club’s manager. He brought the 22-year-old in from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg as cover for the team’s first-choice left-back Cesar Azpilicueta.

Rahman appeared in 23 matches for Chelsea in all competitions in the last campaign, even after Mourinho departed the club in December. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ was sacked by owner Roman Abramovich after leading the Blues to their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s. He was replaced on an interim basis by Guus Hiddink who continued to use the Ghanian international sparingly during his time at the helm.

Antonio Conte has now been brought in as Chelsea’s permanent head coach and the former Italy national manager has decided that Rahman is surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge. Rahman is not the first player that Conte has allowed to leave on loan, with Nathan Ake, Charly Musonda and Lewis Baker all temporarily leaving the club during the window so far.

Rahman was signed by Mourinho after some impressive performances in the Bundesliga over the previous few years. He made 48 appearances at Greuther Furth, a Bundesliga 2 team, scoring two goals. Those appearances earned him the move to Augsburg in August of 2014 and he played for them 51 times in all competitions. That caught Mourinho’s eye and he sanctioned the £21.7 million signing of the player.

Now, though, he’s returning to Germany to be reunited with his former Augsburg boss Markus Weinzierl. Weinzierl took over as Schalke manager in June of this year and is delighted at the prospect of working with the defender once more.

Speaking to the German newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten the player himself revealed that he thinks he was allowed to leave Stamford Bridge as his style of play is ‘too attacking’ for Antonio Conte. He said, “Chelsea manager Antonio Conte told me that he wants his team to be very defensive, but I am a rather offensive full back. So I would have had very little playing time. Conte advised me to leave on loan. We will see what happens after this season”.

Rahman also made something of a scathing remark about the quality of Premier League football, suggesting that he’s better suited to the German game. He said, “A lot of players in England are very powerful, whereas in Germany you see some better football. A lot of Premier League teams are still very much playing kick and rush football”.

The Ghanian’s departure means that Chelsea only have two senior full-backs in the squad moving into the 2016-2017 campaign. It increases the likelihood that Conte will dip back into the transfer market to add to the signings he’s already made. Michy Batshuayi was brought in from Marseille for £33 million and N’Golo Konte was bought from Premier League champions Chelsea in a deal believed to be worth around £30 million.

Chelsea’s new manager Antonio Conte has admitted that Diego Costa may not be at Stamford Bridge at the start of next season, with speculation rife that he may well be returning to Atletico Madrid this summer.

Costa missed Saturday’s match between the Blues and Real Madrid with a back injury, having already missed out on Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Liverpool during the pre-season tournament the International Champion’s Cup on Wednesday. Speaking before the Real game the manager said, “I have to see the players in training. If I cannot see them in the training session, I cannot put them in a game…This is normal, for me. In the last few days, Diego had pain in his back. So he didn’t train, and for this reason he didn’t play”.

Speaking after the game in Michigan the Italian couldn’t confirm that Costa would definitely remain a Chelsea player for the 2016-2017 campaign. He said, “I can say that today Costa is a Chelsea player. He didn’t play in these games because of injury and if he solves the injury and I see in training that he is in good shape it can be possible to see him in the next game against Milan. But I can say only this. I speak only for today and today Costa is Chelsea’s player. Tomorrow if you ask me if Costa will remain with us, I don’t know”.

The comments contradicted what Conte said a couple of weeks ago when he seemed to suggest that Costa would be going nowhere. Speaking when Chelsea were on the Austrian leg of their pre-season tour the manager said, “For me, Costa is a fantastic player, one of the best strikers in the world. We are Chelsea and Chelsea are one of the best clubs in the world and for this reason, I think Diego Costa must stay. I see him very happy and I don’t know any other situation. Diego Costa is Chelsea’s player”.

The former Italian national manager is notoriously strict and may not have been impressed with Costa’s attitude since he took over as Chelsea’s first permanent manager since the departure of José Mourinho. The Spaniard is a fiery player, having been given several retrospective bans by the Football Association for his behaviour in previous Premier League campaigns.

Chelsea have already strengthened their attacking options with the signing of Michy Batshuayi from Marseille for £33 million. The Blues are also rumoured to be interested in signing Batshuayi’s Belgian team-mate and former Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton, but Conte refused to be drawn on those links.

Speaking during his post-match press conference in the wake of the 3-2 loss to Real Madrid at the weekend Conte said, “I do not want to speak about the players of other teams. This is not respectful to the club or to their players. I prefer not to speak. The transfer market is not the most important thing. The important thing is to build a team – a team that plays in good and bad situations and concentrates and works together”.

The reference to creating a good team spirit combined with the continued links to re-signing Lukaku could be part of the reason that Conte has changed his mind about keeping Costa at the club.

Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard has said that he is determined to make up for his lack of form last season that was one of the contributing factors to the Blues finishing tenth in the Premier League last season.

The 25-year-old was Chelsea’s Player Of The Season during the club’s title winning campaign of 2014-2015 but grossly under-performed last time out. Indeed some Chelsea fans turned on the player when José Mourninho was sacked in December, suspecting that he had deliberately under-performed in order to get the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ out of Stamford Bridge.

The Belgium international scored just four goals last season, with his first not coming until the 23rd of April when the Blues played Bournemouth. He notched up fourteen goals in the 2014-2015 campaign, a return that earned him the Player Of The Year award from the club.

For the forthcoming season, however, Hazard is keen to make amends for his underwhelming display of last year and help the Blues mount a title challenge. He said, “I want to be the best, like I was two years ago. We’ve got to show to everyone we’re Chelsea, we’re big players, a big team and we didn’t finish in a good place last season. No we want to do better and win the Premier League”.

Hazard enjoyed an upturn in form towards the end of last season, scoring an excellent solo goal in Chelsea’s game against Liverpool at Anfield. He also played well for Belgium during this summer’s European Championships, though he couldn’t do enough to stop the Red Devils getting knocked out by Wales in the quarter-final stage of the competition.

The midfielder’s 2015-2016 campaign was interrupted with injury and tainted by rumours of his likely departure to the likes of Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain this summer. The player insists he’s happy at Stamford Bridge, though, and is hoping for an injury free season under new boss Antonio Conte.

Hazard is determined to ensure that his performance last season is not his final one in a Blue shirt. He said, “I said after a season like that, I wanted to stay because I didn’t want to finish like this. If I must leave Chelsea one day, I hope I can finish well here and be a champion again. I played a very bad season. It’s easy to say now I was tired. Even when I’m not at the maximum level I want to play well. It’s not easy to play with a small injury in England as the game is very difficult. But this season I’m ready”.

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas was sent off during the club’s pre-season friendly match against Liverpool at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in the early hours of this morning, UK time.

The 29-year-old was issued with a straight red card by the referee following a terrible tackle on Liverpool’s new defensive signing Ragnar Klavan. The game was part of the International Champions Cup, which Chelsea are competing in as part of the club’s pre-season preparations. The Blues won 1-0 thanks to a Gary Cahill goal ten minutes into the game, but it was marred by some feisty tackles from both sides.

As well as the strong tackle from Fabregas on Klavan, Liverpool’s new signing Marko Grujic had to be taken to hospital with suspected concussion after a clash of heads with Chelsea’s Bertrand Traore as the game approached half-time. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said after the game, “The biggest problem for me in this moment is that Marko Grujic is in hospital, because he cannot remember anything. That’s not too cool. Hopefully it’s not too serious. Injuries after games like this in pre-season is the biggest problem”.

The Reds manager also confirmed that Fabregas had gone into the Liverpool dressing room after the game to apologise to Klavan for his robust challenge. Antonio Konte, Chelsea’s manager, also apologised for the tackle after the match but denied suggestions that it was intentional. He said, “I think that the fatigue sometimes can bring a player to go too late. I know Fabregas is a good man, a good boy and is not a player to have this type of situation. I’m sorry for him, I’m sorry for the Liverpool player”.

Conte was otherwise pleased with his side’s performance and the fitness levels of his squad on display against a Premier League rival. He said, “I was pleased with my team because I saw the right spirit and a lot of positive things, but I know and my players know that we can improve a lot. I am pleased with the attitude today and also that when we played with 10 men we didn’t suffer. Don’t forget we are working very hard with two training sessions every day and it is a good attitude. The most important thing today was to see the right spirit in my team and the will to fight to win a friendly game. This is the right way”.

New Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has made it clear in no uncertain terms that the club’s combative midfielder Nemanja Matic is not for sale, amid interest from Juventus.

The press in Italy have linked the Serie A champions with a move for the Serbian following the arrival of N’Golo Kante at Stamford Bridge. It’s believed that the £32 million signing of the Leicester City midfielder has made Matic surplus to requirements in West London and that the club’s former boss might do his old team a favour by letting the 27-year-old head to Italy.

Conte has refuted that notion, however, declaring that Matic is ‘important’ for the future of Chelsea. The Serbia international has three years left on his contract and is keen to remain at Stamford Bridge and fight for his place under the former Italy national coach.

Conte said, “Matic is an important player for me, a very important player. In my idea of football he is an important player and he knows this”. The Italian went on to say that there is a competition for places in the Chelsea squad and that that is important for the club’s chances of success. “N’Golo, Nemanja, Cesc [Fabregas], Oscar, [Nathaniel] Chalobah and [John Obi] Mikel, who is in the Olympics, it is not easy to choose. I want to have this problem”.

The former Juventus manager believes that fostering a good sense of team spirit is important after a fraught campaign last time out. The Blues went into last season as defending Premier League champions but got off to the worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s. Former fan favourite manager José Mourinho was sacked in December and Dutchman Guus Hiddink was brought in to replace him on an interim basis.

Referring to the troubles of last season Conte said, “When you have a bad season like last season for Chelsea I think the blame is a bit with all. For this reason it’s important to create a good spirit and stay together, both if we win or lose”.

Chelsea are currently in America for their pre-season tour and are preparing to face Premier League rivals Liverpool in a friendly at California’s Rose Bowl on Thursday. Conte believes it will give his team a chance to get better and improve their fitness before going into the new season. He said, “In these two days we worked a lot, but we want to play a good game against Liverpool and I want to see improvement of my players”.

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta believes that the West London club need to mount a challenge on the Premier League title in the 2016-2017 season and that the squad understands how important that is to the fans.

The Blues endured their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s last season, with then manager José Mourinho leading them to the worst defence of a Premier League title by any club. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ was sacked by Roman Abramovich in December and Guus Hiddink came in to replace him on an interim basis, much as he did in 2009 when Luis Felipe Scolari was sacked by the club.

In 2009 Hiddink led Chelsea to an FA Cup win, a third-place finish in the Premier League and the semi-finals of the Champions League. Last season, however, they were knocked out in the last-sixteen phase of the Champions League, were beaten by Everton in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and recorded their lowest league position since 1996.

This summer Chelsea appointed their first permanent boss since Mourinho in the form of Italian manager Antonio Conte and the former Juventus and Italian national team manager has wasted no time in mixing things up in his squad. The Blues have already spent over £65 million on the signings of the Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi and Leicester City’s defensive midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Speaking to Sky Sports News Azpilicueta made clear that the Chelsea squad know what is expected of them in the coming campaign. He said, “Our minimum target is to reach the top four but we have to challenge for trophies and we have to challenge for the title. We are coming from a very low position and we are not happy with that. We want to come back to our real position, which is fighting for the title”.

The Spaniard believes that the new additions to the squad will give the West London club an added strength heading in to the new campaign and that the owe it to the supporters to make up for last season’s terrible efforts. He said, “Last season was very hard for us and our fans also but they were behind us all season. We were suffering but now is the time to start from the beginning. We have to show that we are back and that we can challenge for a title”.

Chelsea’s team got an unofficial boost during the club’s pre-season tour of America when three local children became players for the day. The stunt was done in association with Delta Air Lines, Chelsea’s official airline partner, and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Chelsea have a pre-season game against Premier League rivals Liverpool to play tonight.

Former West Ham, Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has claimed that Chelsea are one of the football clubs chasing his signature, though he’s set to disappoint the London club as he’s happy at Boca Juniors.

The Argentine played under new Chelsea boss Antonio Conte when the Italian was managing Juventus in his homeland before he went on to manage the Italian national side. Now Tevez has told the press that his former manager wants to be reunited with him for the final stages of his career.

The 32-year-old began his career in England at Chelsea’s London rivals West Ham, making himself something of a cult hero by scoring the goals that helped the Hammers avoid relegation in 2007. He then moved to Manchester United before joining their rivals Manchester City, becoming the first play to move between the two clubs in a decade. He won the Premier League and the Champions League with United and the Premier League and FA Cup with City.

David Sullivan, the co-chairman of West Ham United, admitted earlier in the month that he had considered trying to re-sign Tevez for the Hammers but the Argentine’s wage demands were prohibitive to any move. He returned to his first ever club, Boca Juniors, in 2015 after winning back to back Serie A titles with Juventus under the management of Conte and it appears that his former boss has followed in the footsteps of Sullivan and enquired about taking him to Stamford Bridge as he looks to build a new Chelsea side in his own image.

Speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport Tevez apparently said, “Europe? Yes, it’s true Napoli and Chelsea seek me, but I repeat what I said before. My desire is to stay at Boca until I retire…I’m fine at Boca. Indeed my idea, my dream is to finish my career as a player in this wonderful club”.

Chelsea Football Club’s new forward, Michy Batshuayi, has described how he was blown away by the club’s desire to succeed after only one day with the Blues.

The Belgian, who signed a five-year deal to play his football in West London after a £33.2 million deal was agreed with Marseille midway through the 2016 European Championships in France, recently linked up with his new Chelsea team-mates after enjoying a brief holiday. He has said that he’s keen to win some silverware and believes that the Blues are perfectly positioned to help him achieve his wishes.

Speaking to Chelsea’s in-house magazine the forward said, “Just being at the training ground for one day I can see it’s very big and you feel you’ve joined a club that really want to win. Everything is new and that is exciting”. Chelsea finished their 2015-2016 league campaign in tenth position in the English top-flight, having changed manager’s halfway through the season after José Mourinho was sacked in December for leading the club to its worse start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s.

Antonio Conte, who was managing Italy at the Euros this summer, has been brought in to replace the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ on a permanent basis after Guus Hiddink was brought in as the club’s interim boss for the second time in his career. He previously worked at Stamford Bridge in 2009 when Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, sacked Brazilian Luis Felipe Scolari.

Conte is keen to put his own stamp on the squad and Batshuayi was one of his first signings. Of the manager the Belgian said, “It’s a great opportunity. Conte is a manager who works very hard and likes people to work hard for him as well. I am very pleased to come and play for him here at Chelsea”

The 22-year-old said, “It’s a magnificent feeling. It feels fantastic to be here, it’s a childhood dream for me so I’m very happy”. He travelled out to America with the rest of the Chelsea squad over the weekend as they look to begin their pre-season training programme before the start of what is likely to be another gruelling Premier League campaign. They will face Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool in friendly match stateside as both teams look to break into the lucrative American market.

New Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has confirmed that the club’s star striker will still be at Stamford Bridge next season and is considered to be of ‘fundamental importance’ to the Italian’s future plans.

Much speculation has surrounded the future of Costa, with his former club Atletico Madrid believed to be keen on re-signing him. The 27-year-old has made 77 appearances for the Blues since signing in 2014, scoring 36 goals. Some Chelsea fans seemed to turn against him when the club’s former manager, José Mourinho, was sacked, with many believing that the Spaniard didn’t try hard enough under the Portuguese’s reign at the start of last season.

The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ was sacked in December, having led Chelsea to their worst opening to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s. Costa, along with Eden Hazard, was targeted by a section of the Stamford Bridge crowd who felt that his performance level dipped in the wake of Chelsea winning the Premier League in the 2014-2015 campaign.

That led some members of the press to speculate that he might be on the way out of West London, with Conte known to be a strict task-master and Costa having had a number of disciplinary issues in the past. He has previously been given retrospective bans for stamping on Liverpool’s Emre Can, having a run-in with Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel and for a clash with Gareth Barry during an FA Cup match against Everton where he also appeared to bite the midfielder, though no punishment was issued by the Football Association for that.

Yet Conte believes that Costa will be a vital part of his team’s assault on the title next season and that he’s likely to score a number of goals for the Blues. He said, “Diego stays with us. He is working very hard. He is very happy to work with his team-mates and with me. He is a fantastic player, a player with a fundamental importance, and there is no problem. He is an important player, one of the best in the world, and I am sure when he goes into our ideas he will score a lot of goals for us”.