The French midfielder, a £40m summer signing, was benched against Arsenal (Picture: Getty)

Antonio Conte has told Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko to improve the tactical and physical aspects of his game having left the summer signing out of his starting XI to take on Arsenal.

Alvaro Morata was the only new signing to earn a spot in Sunday’s line-up at Stamford Bridge, with Cesc Fabregas preferred to Bakayoko to partner N’Golo Kante.

So far, the former Monaco midfielder has started just twice since his £40 million move, but Conte has urged him not to be discouraged and take heart from Kante’s progress.

Bakayoko played against Qarabag in the Champions League in midweek (Picture: Getty)
Bakayoko played against Qarabag in the Champions League in midweek (Picture: Getty)

Speaking prior to leaving Bakayoko on the bench, Conte said: ‘I think Baka is a good player – he’s 23 years old, don’t forget this.

‘He has a lot of room to improve in the tactical aspect. Also in the physical aspect. He’s working very well and he needs a bit more time than other players to understand our style of football very well.

Fabregas was preferred to Bakayoko against his old club Arsenal on Sunday (Picture: Getty)

‘Above all if you are a midfielder, you need time to understand the right position. We try to play with an identity and if you want to give an identity to your team, every single player needs to know your idea of football very well.

‘I’m very happy because he’s improving a lot. In the last 10 days he improved a lot in the tactical aspect and physical aspect.

Conte says Kante made huge strides last season and challenged Bakayoko to do the same (Getty)

‘He’s a powerful player, for sure a good signing for us. To have a powerful player in your team is very important, above all in this league. This league is very tough physically. If you are not prepared for this impact you can suffer a lot.

‘For sure I’d like to play with him. Now it’s impossible. Not now. I think he’s very close to being totally involved in our idea of football. He can improve a lot with the ball. We are working about this aspect.’

Bakayoko, who scored against Qarabag, has started just two of five Premier League games (Getty)

On what Bakayoko can learn from Kante, he added: ‘We did the same with N’Golo when he arrived here. If you remember he was very, very good without the ball, to win the ball, to recover the ball.

‘Now I think you can see a complete player with the ball [and] without the ball. Now he’s becoming better with the ball, N’Golo. We want to work in the same way to have this process with Baka. This will be very important for him and for the team.

‘I said many times about N’Golo last season that he could improve a lot with the ball. I think he’s working very hard to improve this weakness. But I think now he’s a complete player, he’s a top player. He always knows when he has the ball what he has to do. This is very important.

‘Baka without the ball is a really strong player, a physical player. You can feel him during the game. I think he can improve a lot with the ball.’

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