Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has hailed the signing of N’Golo Kante, describing the Frenchman as a player who can help the club get back to the top.
The combative midfielder completed his £32m move from Leicester City on Saturday, and will look forward to meeting up with his new team-mates once he returns from his post-Euro 2016 holiday.
It wasn’t the greatest of starts for Conte at Chelsea as he lost his first pre-season friendly 2-0 against Rapid Vienna on Saturday, but he remained upbeat about the future as he also looks forward to deploying Kante in a two-man midfield in an area of the pitch that he places added emphasis on.
“I want to say Kante was a target and for this reason I’m very happy the club bought the player,” he said, as noted by Sky Sports. “He’s a good player. He has good technique, fantastic stamina and I like this type of player.
“If you want to win a team needs this type of player, Kante, [Nemanja] Matic and [John Obi] Mikel – that work hard for the team.
“We identified him, me and the club together, and I think Kante can give a lot to Chelsea, to enforce a zone which is very important if we want to play with two central midfielders. He showed last season he’s able to play with another midfielder. I think with this player we’ve reinforced the squad.”
Conte went on to insist that he eager to see Michy Batshuayi join up with the squad this week too, and together with the club, they will continue to look at ways to further strengthen the team ahead of the upcoming campaign.
One of the players that will be returning is Juan Cuadrado, and the Italian tactician is seemingly looking forward to welcoming him back as he looks to have a bigger impact at Stamford Bridge following a failed initial spell after his move from Fiorentina in 2015.
The Colombian international spent last season on loan at Juventus and impressed with the Serie A champions, and he seemingly also fits the bill when it comes to the type of player that Conte likes to have in his side with his industrious nature off the ball combined with his quality on it as well as being tactically flexible and versatile.
“Juan Cuadrado is a Chelsea player. He will come back very soon. He’s in our squad, I’m very happy to have him and train him,” he added.
“I wanted him when I was a coach at Juventus and he will come back very soon and train and play with us. Now, he’s a Chelsea player and he’ll stay with us. If something changes you’ll know.”