Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will receive a £100 million war chest in the summer transfer window to buy five priority targets in the summer
The Daily Mirror have reported that Antonio Conte is set to receive a £100 million war chest to unleash a summer spending spree. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail have ran a parallel report stating that those funds will be used by the Chelsea boss to bring five priority targets to Stamford Bridge.
The winter transfer window came and went without Chelsea getting any new acquisition to Stamford Bridge. Instead, Antonio Conte used the opportunity to sell players who weren’t a part of his long-term plans.
The likes of Oscar, John Obi Mikel and Branislav Ivanovic and Patrick Bamford all left Stamford Bridge in January, and the Blues received a healthy sum solely from the sale of the Brazilian to ensure that they don’t fall under the scanner of Financial Fair Play.
Now, it looks like the next transfer window will see Conte being much more active with acquisitions, as he is ready to approach the summer window in June with the zeal of making valuable additions to his squad.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is ready to bankroll a £100 million warchest in order to help build Conte a formidable squad, and the Italian manager is aiming to make five new additions into the roster at Stamford Bridge, with Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele and Alvaro Morata said to be the key targets.
Southampton captain van Dijk has been linked with a move away from St. Mary’s in recent months, and Chelsea are said to be one of his suitors. However, a possible transfer move for the Dutchman was scuppered after he was ruled out for three months with an ankle injury.
Van Dijk is expected to be fit again well before the start of the next season, and barring any future mishap, Chelsea are expected to make a move for the Southampton mainstay once the transfer window reopens in the summer.
In the meantime, Conte is likely to monitor the progress of Nathan Ake, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen to adjudge whether any of the three young defenders are likely to feature in his future plans at Chelsea.
Up front, Conte has identified Moussa Dembele and Alvaro Morata as two of his priorities. The 20-year-old Dembele was heavily linked with the Blues in the January window with Chelsea considering a £40 million bid for the Frenchman.
The striker has impressed ever since his move to Celtic in the summer, scoring 20 goals in 38 appearances at an impressive rate of 131 minutes per goal to emerge as a target for several clubs. And Conte could have an uphill task of buying him, with Dembele reportedly preferring a move to Manchester United or PSG over the Premier League leaders.
Finally, Morata is another important target for Conte with Diego Costa’s future at the club still unclear despite returning to the first team picture after a reported bust up with his Chelsea boss.
Morata is said to be growing frustrated with the lack of opportunities coming his way after making only ten starts for Real Madrid all season, and with Antonio Conte known to be fond of the Spaniard’s talents, we could see him make a move to West London in the summer.
Other than these three, a goalkeeper is also said to be high on the list of Conte’s priorities with Asmir Begovic keen to move away from Chelsea in search of more first team opportunities.
So, Conte is keen to create a Chelsea squad in his own image, and is likely to get the funds as well. It now remains to be seen if Conte is able to get his targets, both known and unknown, to continue his Chelsea revolution into the 2017/18 season.
