Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has moved to reassure Kurt Zouma that the French centre-half still has an important role to play in the club’s future despite the £34 million signing of David Luiz.

Luiz, who is expected to be on the bench at Swansea City on Sunday, has created inevitable headlines since returning to the club on transfer deadline day from Paris St-Germain. But Conte has been at pains to emphasise that Zouma, the highly-promising 21-year-old who has not played since February because of a serious knee injury, will not be jettisoned as a result.

“No, absolutely not,” said the Italian, who revealed that Zouma has joined full training with the first team but is some way from a recall. “For us, Zouma is not only the future but the present, too. We are waiting for him to recover. He’s a good player, very young, and he can improve a lot.”