Senior Chelsea players are growing increasingly concerned that the club have yet to make any summer signings.

Chelsea are beset with uncertainty. The club are yet to act on the future of coach Antonio Conte, despite holding talks with possible replacements, while they have been without a technical director since Michael Emenalo left last November.

Some of their rivals have already started strengthening ahead of the next Premier League campaign, despite the inconvenience of the World Cup.

Liverpool have spent £97.7million on Naby Keita and Fabinho, while Manchester United have purchased Diogo Dalot from Porto and a £52m deal for Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred will go through once personal terms have been finalised. Arsenal have added Stephen Liechsteiner to their ranks, while a deal for Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been agreed.

Champions Manchester City and Tottenham have yet to recruit, although the former are expected to beat the Blues to the signature of Napoli star Jorginho.

Last summer followed a similar pattern and Chelsea, who were reigning champions, finished the season a disappointing fifth. Their first acquisition was the free transfer of Willy Caballero on July 1, plus a move for teenager Ethan Ampadu. Just four more players arrived, despite Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic, John Terry, Nathan Ake, Nathaniel Chalobah and Bertrand Traore all leaving.

Despite buying internationals Alvaro Morata, Antonio Rudiger, Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko, it was not considered enough by some within the squad to help them cope with the rigours of playing in four competitions.

One insider has revealed that a repeat of 12 months ago will not only damage Chelsea’s hopes of competing for the title, but also in the club’s bid to keep Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois. The Belgians, who have two years and one year left on their contract respectively, have urged Chelsea to show ambition during the close season.

Hazard added to the uncertainty yesterday by saying: “Real Madrid may interest me, everybody knows this. They already know what they have to do if they want me.”

Napoli’s Maurizio Sarri is in line to take over from Conte, while Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack have been considered for the technical role.