Five questions Antonio Conte has to answer after Chelsea’s chaotic transfer window

With six new signings and £185million spent, Chelsea fans certainly can’t complain of a quiet summer transfer window, but has Antonio Conte really managed to put together the squad he wants after it?

The Italian tactician made it perfectly clear throughout the summer that top class reinforcements were needed and that the club needed to be ready to spend big to get them.

In the end, it rather seemed that Chelsea ended up with their second choice option in most areas, with questionmarks over whether this current crop is really an improvement on last season’s title winners.

With the transfer window now done and dusted, we have five questions about the Premier League champions’ rather chaotic business this summer…

Whose decision was it to sell Nemanja Matic?

Just a few weeks into the season and this already looks a big mistake, so why was the sale of a key member of last season’s side sold to a direct title rival?

Nemanja Matic played 35 of Chelsea’s 38 league games last season, and has shown himself time and time again to be a hard-worker and calm presence on the ball, with all of his best abilities now being put to use by Manchester United as they gain an early advantage in the title race.

Conte hinted it was not his decision to sell the Serbian, but rumours had been circulating for months beforehand that Tiemoue Bakayoko was set to arrive as his replacement.

Is Conte dodging the blame for a deal he now regrets, or does he simply not have as much control as he’d like over his squad selection? Either way, does he really think Bakayoko is such a significant upgrade that strengthening United so considerably was worth it?

What’s the plan for Diego Costa now?

Handled disastrously from the first minute to last, how on earth is Diego Costa still a Chelsea player?

Conte clearly made an early decision to sell the Spain international after his infamous text at the end of last season, but it did nothing but put Chelsea in a vulnerable situation in the transfer market.

Clubs knew Chelsea were in the hunt for a big-name striker, giving them the edge in all transfer negotiations. As a result, top target Romelu Lukaku was missed out on, and although Alvaro Morata has started well, £60m looks rather a lot for a player that wasn’t even the manager’s first choice.

As for Costa, he’s still in Brazil refusing to return to training, with Chelsea expecting him to come back and spend four months with the Under-23s. How will this affect his transfer fee when it comes to trying to ship him out again in January, and how will his potentially toxic presence around the club be dealt with until then?

When will Eden Hazard get a new contract?

‘At the moment there’s nothing. I’m waiting’ – hardly encouraging words from one of the best players in the world when quizzed over his contract earlier this week.

With everything else going on at Chelsea at the moment, losing Eden Hazard simply is not an option. The Belgian has been a crucial performer for the Blues down the years, and could play for any club in the world.

Chelsea aren’t exactly in a huge hurry – Hazard’s current contract expires in 2020 – but this surely has to be settled this season or the west Londoners will find themselves in a situation not dissimilar to Arsenal with Alexis Sanchez.

At a time when Chelsea don’t seem able to attract the big names they want, keeping hold of one of the biggest names on the planet is absolutely essential, and the process must start soon.

When will Chelsea finally give youngsters a chance?

Weren’t things meant to be different under Conte? Below are just some of the most talented young players either sold or sent out on loan by Chelsea this summer:

Nathaniel Chalobah, Dominic Solanke, Nathan Ake, Bertrand Traore, Kurt Zouma, Tammy Abraham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ola Aina, Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown and Jeremie Boga.

There are, of course, many others, and not all young players will get their shot at a club of Chelsea’s size, but at some point fans will question the point of having an academy at all if so many of its finest products continue to be overlooked.

Ake shone when given a chance last season – is Antonio Rudiger really an upgrade at £34m? Dominic Solanke has long impressed in loan spells away from the club and had a bright pre-season for Liverpool – why not play him instead of forking out on Michy Batshuayi, who then doesn’t play, who then leads you to target 32-year-old Fernando Llorente on deadline day?

The likes of Abraham, Baker and Boga are young and could still benefit from first-team experience out on loan, but can Chelsea fans ever look forward to a time when the purpose of these deals becomes to prepare them for the Chelsea first-team instead of just putting them in the shop window?

Does Antonio Conte have a long-term future at the club?

Almost more worrying than anything involving any one player is the future of Chelsea’s manager, who has not sounded like a happy man in the last couple of months.

Conte’s future even came into some doubt when he stalled on signing a new contract earlier in the summer amid reports linking him with the Inter Milan job. In the end, he did sign a new deal, but with only improved wages and no extension to the length of it, which is almost worse than not signing at all.

The 48-year-old has made it clear he’s not happy with how Chelsea have conducted their business, and why would he be when they failed to deliver the likes of Lukaku, Alex Sandro, Virgil van Dijk, Leonardo Bonucci, Radja Nainggolan and other priority targets that were seemingly on his list of priorities for months?

Chelsea fans have seen this all before and it never ends well. Given Conte’s remarkable start at the club, it’s clear he’s a manager worth holding on to. How many times will they have to chop and change before they find another like him?

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