Speaking on Sky Sports, the Spaniard explained how a chat with Guus Hiddink shortly after the Dutchman took charge brought a change to his game.

‘At the beginning, when Guus came in and things were not completely right he tried to play with stability in midfield,’ Fabregas said. ‘I remember he started playing many games with Obi Mikel and Nemanja Matic, with me or Oscar as the number 10.

‘After the Man United game, where we drew 0-0 and didn’t play the best, for Crystal Palace he came to talk to me and said he wanted me to get deep, get the ball, create things and make the team tick from deep positions.

‘Everything started there; he wanted me to be on the ball basically all the time. For me it’s fantastic because that’s the game I love to play; being on the ball, feeling important, having movement around the pitch and I think that helped my confidence a lot.’

Conte will undoubtedly bring his own ideas, methods and objectives when he takes over at the club once Italy’s involvement at Euro 2016 comes to a conclusion.

Fabregas believes the incoming coach possesses all the attributes needed in order for the Blues to get back to challenging for major honours next season.

‘I love football and I’ve been studying his previous teams and what he does,’ said the midfielder.

‘We (Spain) played against Italy recently and it was really interesting. You can see he loves offensive football and tactically his teams are so well organised. From what I’ve heard, which has been proved by so many professionals talking about him, is that he’s very disciplined, a winner, a competitor and that’s what we need. We need someone who will always be on our backs, trying to push us, make us work hard and teaching us new things.

‘For sure, all I know is that he wants to win straight away; there is no transition, no more excuses, he wants to win and for that we will have to be prepared from day one.’

During his successful spell as Juventus manager, where he led the Turin-based club to three consecutive Serie A titles, Conte relied heavily on the experienced Andrea Pirlo in a deep midfield role.

With his exceptional passing ability and all-round intelligence, it’s a position Fabregas could potentially fulfil for Chelsea should the new manager require him to do so.

‘I’m very honest with myself, I’m not the quickest player and I’m not the most mobile in terms of defensive abilities so I would always have to be well protected, with disciplined players that from the back, midfield and strikers have composed lines,’ he explained.

‘But, why not? I love coming deep to get the ball, I love long-range passes, I like connecting with people at the front and between the lines.’

Fabregas has completed more passes - 1951 - than any other player in the Premier League this campaign, and having also registered 24 assists last season he accepts he will always be judged against the high standards he has set throughout his career.

‘I like being judged harshly because it makes me do better and motivates me,’ said the 28-year-old.

‘Obviously the deeper you are, the more difficult it is to get into the box and score goals but at the same time I know I’ve been doing it all my career, so people will always say “Cesc, instead of 20 assists you got seven or eight,” and when you see it in numbers it’s not as good. But the last three or four months, apart from last Saturday, have been okay.

‘I’m enjoying football, not in terms of our position because I want to be as high as possible, but I would like to make my mark and for us to finish as high as we can.’