It is almost two months since he disappeared off into the sunset, with the Premier League title won. Even though Chelsea lost the FA Cup Final, most could agree that it had been a remarkable first season in England for Antonio Conte.

If it wasn’t unprecedented to do what he did, it was wholly unexpected to take a team that had come 10th, and the players who were then humiliated 3-0 by Arsenal in late September 2016, to such heights.

Since then, much has occurred to worry Chelsea fans: a fall-out with leading scorer Diego Costa, doubts over Conte signing a renewed contract which — when it came — was merely an improvement in salary rather than an actual extension; whispers of frustration over recruitment, especially when Romelu Lukaku ended up with Jose Mourinho at Manchester United.

Antonio Conte came close to leaving Chelsea this summer, but is now a manager rebooted

The Italian saw his side beat Arsenal 3-0 in a pre-season encounter in Beijing on Saturday

But tanned, healthy and fit, Conte strolls into the dining room of the Intercontinental Beijing with that trademark sheepish grin, looking for all the world a man for whom a month’s break has refreshed and revived him. Snorkelling, beach volleyball and a daily run on holiday with his family in Liguria, the resort in north-west Italy, seem to have done the trick. He gently begs to differ.

‘For a coach it’s very difficult to rest because you stay with your phone and then you have to call, to wait for news about the club,’ he says. ‘It’s not easy to rest completely.’

That said, over nearly an hour of conversation, he is relaxed yet focused, intent on delivering key messages as the somewhat turbulent trajectory of the past two months becomes clear. He would say he is now settled — the contract agreed, new players being signed and the future is there to be built.

But Chelsea being Chelsea, nothing is wholly smooth. Costa, their leading scorer last season, will be leaving after that infamous text exchange with his manager. But Conte is adamant that no one, least of all Costa, should be surprised at the outcome, given that the player had asked on three separate occasions last season to leave.

Despite losing the FA Cup final Conte's first season still goes down as a remarkable success

The Blues were soundly beaten at the Emirates earlier in the season, but things soon changed

‘I want to tell one thing to clarify the situation,’ he says. ‘In January, the situation was very clear for the club, the player, for Costa, for his agent, that when we arrived in June then it would be finished. It was very clear from January. I took this decision in January and I respected my decision.

‘I didn’t take the decision in June or in May. I took the decision in January. I would be surprised if someone was surprised about my decision now.’

And he insists Chelsea fans should not fret that Costa is leaving.

‘Now we have to build with new players and with those players who won two Leagues and arrived once in 10th. One player is not important. The most important thing is the team, the squad, and it’s important now to be together. You can’t just lose it after one player.’

It helps considerably that Alvaro Morata has been signed for what could be £70million from Real Madrid. Even the pain of being gazumped by Mourinho for Lukaku is eased by the fact Conte has a player he tried to sign three years ago.

Conte's first season ended in glory, but he needed to know Roman Abramovich backed him

‘I wanted him when I was at Juventus before I left,’ he says. ‘In that period he was very young but now, with experience at Juventus and Real Madrid, he is ready to come to Chelsea and to play for us.’

Conte himself introduces the elephant in the room. ‘You know very well the dynamic of the market: it seemed that Morata would finish at Manchester United and Lukaku at Chelsea. Instead it happened the other way around.’

But didn’t he prefer Lukaku?

‘It is not important to say,’ he insists. ‘For me, Lukaku and Morata are at the same level, first choice for a great club like Chelsea and United.’

Certainly Morata, 24, seems to fit Conte’s system somewhat better; his work-rate will be less of a concern.

‘He made a good step forward since three years ago; now he is one of the best strikers in Europe. He has great potential, he can improve a lot. Last season he didn’t play a lot of games but scored 20 goals [from 19 starts]. He is very young and has a lot of space and room to improve and I want to improve him a lot.’

Morata and Antonio Rudiger, also 24 and a centre-half signed from Roma, will join the players next week in Singapore on the next leg of their Asian tour.

Conte's mind was made up in January regarding Diego Costa's departure from the club

The Blues have now signed Alvaro Morata to be the main man to lead their line next season

Midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, 22, who joined from Monaco, will stay at Cobham to undergo rehabilitation on a knee injury. But the squad is coming together.

‘In Singapore, Rudiger and Morata will arrive, maybe someone else,’ says Conte. ‘I hope. I know very well that the club is working strong, very hard to try to make me the best way to work.’

And if things seem to be moving in the right direction, Conte doesn’t deny his feelings were a little more ambiguous back in May. Asked if he had doubts about continuing having won the League, he pauses to consider his words carefully.

‘After a tough season, it’s very important always to look back, to see the season and then to understand very well. It was very important for me because it was my first season in England, a new country without my family, and it was important to understand my situation in all aspects, OK?

‘For sure, I enjoyed the season in England and with Chelsea. But I must be honest, it was very tough for me and for my family. Sometimes when you win, you think that everything is easy, but it wasn’t to win and to have this type of season.

‘Now I have decided with the club to continue our path. We found the right view about the future of this club. I repeat, we are a great club but we are in a moment where we can’t make a mistake because it’s very dangerous. We don’t have a lot of space to make mistakes. We need to improve and increase our squad to be something important for the present, and also for our future.’

Conte acknowledges it looked likely that Romelu Lukaku would end up returning to Chelsea

It seems Conte had to be reassured that both he and owner Roman Abramovich were of one mind.

‘For every manager it is important to explain your idea,’ he says. ‘It’s very important that the club understand your idea and the club is ready also to work together, to try together, and to have this solid foundation. I can want this, but if I’m alone it’s very difficult to do this.’

Pressed on whether that meant he considered leaving, he demurs. ‘For sure, my decision was always to stay with Chelsea and continue this work. But you know very well that our job is not simple and anything can happen during our path and our career.

‘My desire, and the club’s, was to continue this work and, for this reason I renew a contract. Now it’s right to start to work together and it’s very important to know that there’s a lot of work to do.’

He is committed now. Next season his wife, Elisabetta, and nine-year-old daughter, Vittoria, will be with him in London. They are currently house hunting near the club’s Surrey training base in Cobham and Vittoria has her place at school. The sense of relief at having his family around him is almost palpable.

‘To stay another season without the family would be very hard, very difficult,’ he says. ‘My daughter is at an age when it’s very important to see her grow, to stay every day with her. And also with my wife, because she would be jealous for this. They are coming. My family is very important. I think it will show my commitment to the club, to this project and to try — I repeat — to build something important.’

Conte will be joined in London next season by his wife Elisabetta and young daughter Vittoria

The Italian spent last season apart from his family and admits the set-up was a struggle

He insists that he is happy that the new contract he has signed hasn’t seen his time at the club extended; it still ends in 2019. That, he says, keeps an appropriate amount of pressure on him.

‘When we finished last season and you were asking about my contract I told you that I have two years contract to go,’ he says. ‘And then I thought ‘‘this is the right way, to continue to give me motivation, to give the club motivation’’. I don’t see any problem about this. And I’m happy with this new contract. The club recognised me and the job I did with the players last season. I’m happy, and I think it’s the same for the club. And we have time, eventually, to extend this contract.’

But he does issue what seems to be a warning that a Premier League title cannot necessarily be expected every season.

‘The most important thing for our club, players and fans is that we are building something important,’ he says. ‘I repeat, when you work in this way, the present is very important, but also the future.’

And with his expressive hand gestures, he says: ‘It’s important to be realistic and to understand where I stay now. I have the will to work so hard, to start from here, and to try to arrive there.’

However, he knows what the expectations will be.

‘This season the target is the same but it won’t be easy, because you can see Man City, Man United, the other teams as well are trying to reinforce and we are changing a lot. More from necessity, not because I wanted to change.

The departures, both permanent and on loan, mean Chelsea need extra bodies next season

The Blues will also be without the experienced head of John Terry in their squad this year

‘We are changing a lot and we are buying top players because we need to improve our squad because last season — and I repeat — we played regularly with 13 players.

‘Then this season we sold [Nathaniel] Chalobah, [Nathan] Ake and John Terry is gone, Costa too. [Kurt] Zouma went on loan and for now it is enough. We have [Tammy} Abraham out on loan, [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek went on loan and we need top players who must stay in our squad.

‘We have to understand that we have a situation where we are building with 11 players and now we have [Andreas] Christensen, Morata … but it’s not enough. We need more.’

Indeed, if there is a theme, it is that Conte wants people to appreciate that, given the senior players lost in the past two years, there is a substantial rebuilding job. The arrivals of Rudiger, Bakayoko and Morata cannot be the end of summer business.

‘We lost a lot of big players. Last season was Terry, and then [Branislav] Ivanovic, [John Obi] Mikel, and in last few years we lost [Didier] Drogba, [Petr] Cech, [Frank] Lampard — a lot of big players that were fundamental at Chelsea. Now we need to rebuild again these fundamentals. We need to improve the quality aspect and the numerical aspect.

Conte oversaw the arrival of Tiemoue Bakayoko and Antonio Rudiger as the club looks to build

‘We arrived at this moment after finishing last season where I utilised only 13 players regularly and we won the League and arrived at the final of the FA Cup.

‘But for sure, to face four competitions in a good way we need more players. The club knows this very well and they know better than me this situation and we are trying to find the right solution. But it’s not easy and in this market it’s [costing] crazy money to take a player.

‘I don’t like to spend money only to spend. I need players with the right characteristics for my idea of football and to allow this group to grow.’

Point made, the conversation turns lighter. He is reminded that the previous time Chelsea won the title — under Mourinho in 2014-15 — they finished 10th the following season. Despite his innate caution, is he prepared to guarantee that this team won’t repeat that calamity?

‘No, no, for sure,’ he says, laughing at the thought of it.

And he discusses Terry’s managerial ambitions, his stated desire to take over at Chelsea. Maybe there will be a vacancy in two years?

‘Thank you very much,’ says Conte in riposte. ‘You have such confidence in my quality!’ And he is all smiles once more.