Chelsea boss Antonio Conte gave an update on Eden Hazard and Tiemoue Bakayoko’s injuries.
Hazard broke his ankle while on international duty with Belgium, while Bakayoko is carrying a knee injury that has seen him miss the pre-season tour in China and Singapore.
Both players are set to miss the start of the season, as the Italian manager confirmed:
“It is difficult to say because arrive after a bad injury, after ankle surgery, it is not easy to programme the date to come back. We hope for them to recover very well. Their is recovering very well. You know the importance of these players.
“We will not rush them back as every player must be in the best of form to play, otherwise they are put in a bad position which could be damaging for the team.
“Bakayoko is in a similar position like Eden. For me it is very important to the players to understand my idea of football. For Bakayoko, for example, at the moment he doesn’t know anything about my idea of football.
For sure, he needs a bit of time to adapt and understand and this is the great difficulty for a coach that has an idea of football and wants to give an identity.
“When you take a player you need a bit of time to bring the player into your idea. It is the same now for Morata and for Rudiger. For sure, if the player arrives as soon as possible, it is easy for me.”
Speaking about rumours linking Hazard to Spanish giants like Real Madrid or Barcelona, Conte added:
“I don’t know anything about this situation. In the past I read a lot of stories about Hazard with Real Madrid. And now Barcelona. But this is the transfer market, we must understand this.
“Yes. He is very happy to stay with us and to play for Chelsea.”