Batshuayi may not be Conte’s first choice, but he’s working on him

Michy Batshuayi has played a grand total of 84 Premier League minutes for Chelsea so far this season. From that he’s managed a goal and an assist, and in his cup appearances Batshuayi has added 3 more goals.

It’s not been a disaster of a start to the striker’s Chelsea career, but it’s also not been what many expected when the much wanted Belgian moved from Marseille.

There have inevitably been transfer rumours, and claims of a possible early loan exit, so the Betway Insider Podcast spoke to Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur to get some insight on the situation, and it’s a very interesting listen for Chelsea supporters.

Terreur believes Antonio Conte has a lot of faith in the 23 year old, and explained: “I think Conte wants to keep him, to work with him, to get him tactically adapted to the Premier League. What I know before he came, he was not tactically ready.

“He always used to play in a two striker system before he moved to France, and in France he only played one season on a decent level.

“When he moved to Chelsea, they paid a lot of money for player about whom they had a few doubts I think, because Conte was still pushing for Romelu Lukaku, they had talks with Romelu Lukaku about a move, they’ve talked to Morata’s people, so you already felt this guy is not Conte’s first choice.”

There has been frustration from Batshuayi, and Terreur shared some interesting insight from the player’s camp: “He just needs to adapt, although it’s a difficult situation. Certainly when he expected to play against Bournemouth when Costa was suspended. He really expected to play but in the last training session Conte suddenly changed his mind, that’s what I know from Batshuayi’s people.

“And that was a heavy decision for him, and then he just played him for 13 seconds, which I found was a humiliation.”

Terreur believes it may have been Conte testing Batshuayi’s character and mental strength, and the player has since responded in training.

On a transfer, the Belgian journalist explained “I don’t expect him to move because Chelsea have always said no.

“I don’t expect them to push him to the exit, unless they get a striker they want.”

Conte will continue to work on Batshuayi in training, with Terreur saying the sessions are intense and tactics heavy, and adding: “He moves them around a lot like he’s playing Subbuteo.”

The Chelsea manager’s control with his players should benefit Batshuayi soon, and at Juventus Conte worked a system with two forwards which he may eventually use in the Premier League.

Listen to Betway’s Insider Podcast for further Belgian insight on Batshuayi and Conte, and also Eden Hazard’s difficult last season under Jose Mourinho.