Chelsea coach Antonio Conte has admitted that he is finding it difficult to get his summer transfer top targets due to the lack of European football as a lure.
The former Italy national team coach has only successfully signed N’Golo Kante and Michy Batshuayi this season from Leicester City and Marseille respectively. Following the underwhelming performance, and subsequently poor finish in the last term, a lot of changes were expected. The management is open to more additions but with no prospect of playing Champions League football, targets are looking away from Stamford Bridge.
“I must be honest, I think we’ll have a problem to reach our targets. I still hope with this transfer market to improve the squad and the team with some new players, but we understand our targets are very difficult to reach.
“But we have a game against Burnley for now which is more important than the transfer market. Then, after that, I hope some more players than now [are gotten] before the deadline,” Conte told reporters.
With few days to the deadline, if Chelsea struggle to win another game, the pressure to get reinforcements would increase – if not this summer, then January unfailingly.
Recently, bids for Kalidou Koulibaly and Alessio Romagnoli were rejected by their respective clubs, sinking the hopes of landing a decent defender this term. This forced The Blues to make a move for a lower ranking player on their target list – Marcos Alonso. Alonso is the target to bolster the defensive options, set to cover for Branislav Ivanovic, and Cesar Azpilicueta. The 25-year old former Bolton player would immediately get to action when he lands at the Bridge. Youngster Ola Aina picked up a knock when Chelsea played Bristol Rovers. With Kurt Zouma still injured, only four defenders are fit to prosecute matches for the top rated club.
