Chelsea have underlined their commitment to Antonio Conte by granting his wish to add another of his Italian allies to his backroom staff.

And in another move that should ease any tension around Stamford Bridge over Manchester United’s bid to hijack Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea expect to finalise the signings of defender Antonio Rudiger and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko in the coming days.

Steve Holland’s departure to become England manager Gareth Southgate’s assistant has freed space and head coach Conte has been granted his wish to bring in Davide Mazzotta.

Mazzotta is not viewed as a replacement for Holland, as he is likely to be involved in the opposition scouting and video analysis department, and there could yet be another addition.

Conte used Mazzotta as his opposition scout for the Italian national team during Euro 2016 and the 47-year-old has also worked as an Under-17s coach at Lecce.