Antonio Conte insists he's happy at Chelsea amid exit rumours
Antonio Conte has once again bemoaned Chelsea’s squad size in the wake of their situation regarding injuries to key first-team squad members.
N’Golo Kante, Victor Moses and Danny Drinkwater are unavailable due to injuries, meaning David Luiz was drafted into midfield for last night’s Champions League match against Roma.
And it prompted the Chelsea boss to once again complain that his squad is too “thin” to cope with injuries.
However, Neville has pointed to the huge number of players Chelsea have out on loan that should be given a chance at Stamford Bridge.
“They have to go out on loan because Conte’s coming out and saying they’ve only got 11 players,” Neville told BBC 5Live Sport.
They won’t and to be fair it’s a disgrace. They should close their academy
Phil Neville
“If you were the under-23’s manager of part of the squad that played in the Champions youth League today, you’d be thinking ‘I’ve got no future at this football club. If he’s saying they’ve only got 11 players give me a chance!’.
“That’s what Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah and Lewis Baker and all these players that are playing for England youth teams and winning tournaments for Chelsea - FA Youth Cups. They’re saying, ‘give us a chance!’.
“They won’t and to be fair it’s a disgrace. They should close their academy, Chelsea.”
And Arsenal legend Ian Wright believes those set of players on loan have enough quality to prove Conte wrong about sending them away from the club.
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Antonio Conte has claimed he only has 11 players
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Dominic Solanke opted against staying at Chelsea
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“We’re talking about a set of players who have won a lot of things at Chelsea from a young age,” Wright said.
“They are winners. They want to be winners. They want to be successful.
“That’s why it’s vitally important that Tammy Abraham, Loftus-Cheek - who was doing brilliantly at Crystal Palace before he got injured.
“Tammy’s now started to score his goals, Solanke’s made the move and he’s gone to Liverpool and hopefully that will work out for him.
“You see someone like Kurt Zouma, who’s now at Stoke. You just want them to do well because they are continuously speaking about needing more players and wanting more players and the manager doesn’t seem to be happy because he hasn’t got the right players but they’ve got quality players out there on loan, not at the club.”
