REX FEATURES
And take a good look and see how young they all are.
REX FEATURES
With the exception of reserve keeper Willy Caballero, not one of the five new Chelsea players on the payroll is older than 27.
No grey hair, no zimmer frames, their teeth are all their own.
Midfielder Danny Drinkwater is the oldest of those who will be playing regularly and there’s a subconscious message in there somewhere.
It’s to do with the power struggle that has been simmering away quietly at the heart of the Premier League champions.
And it’s one which manager Conte has lost comprehensively after doing the silly thing of trying to take on the club’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.
In the immediate aftermath of winning the league in his first season as a Premier League manager, Conte understandably seized the moment to push for the introduction of more experienced new players.
He'd hoped to land Fernando Llorente (32), Antonio Candreva (30), Leonardo Bonucci (30) and Claudio Marchisio (30).
Conte wanted men who have been there and done it and who he feels can lead his troops through a tougher season as defending English champions and through the groundhog days of the Champions League group stages.
Chelsea want younger players with more zip and crucially a re-sale value even though players don’t generally go to Stamford Bridge with pre-conceived ideas about moving on.
As one Chelsea insider told me: “Conte was a bit like Jose Mourinho. He won something and then threw his toys out of the pram a bit.
"They win a trophy and want things done their way. We’ve seen it all before.”
Take a look at the visitors’ team at the King Power Stadium this weekend and see who won that battle.
Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger, Davide Zappacosta, Alvaro Morata. Babies compared to the players Conte had his eye on.
If Conte has seemed a little frustrated this season that is why.
AP:ASSOCIATED PRESS
He has taken on an elusive Russian who lives in the shadows at Stamford Bridge but who enjoys levels of control at his club similar to Kim Jong-Un.
Conte may seem a little subdued this season as a result. The war of wills didn’t last very long and nor did it ever seriously threaten Conte’s position at the club.
The Italian is smarter than that. He is now better off to the tune of £5million-a-year for the next two years after signing a new contract.
But if he has learned one thing this summer, it is who really is the boss at Chelsea.
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