Batshuayi´s time will come – Conte

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has assured Michy Batshuayi his time will come as the Belgium international continues to struggle to break into the starting XI at Stamford Bridge.

Batshuayi joined Chelsea from Marseille in the close-season, but has yet to start a Premier League match due to the form of Diego Costa.

Spain striker Costa leads the league’s goalscoring charts with 13, a return that has helped fire the Blues to the top of the table and an 11-match winning run.

But Costa is suspended for Monday’s contest against Bournemouth meaning Batshuayi is likely to lead the line in his absence.

Conte has faith in Batshuayi’s ability to fill the void and urged the striker to continue showing improvement on the training pitch.

“For sure he [Batshuayi] wants to play, but it is not easy when you have Costa in front of you who is playing fantastic football and scoring a lot of goals,” Conte told the club’s official website.

“Michy’s attitude and behaviour is fantastic. He wants to improve his technical quality and physical quality. We are working a lot with him on the tactical aspect. 

“He is showing great commitment, great work-rate and great passion during the training sessions. I repeat: it is important for Michy to continue to work to improve. I am sure his moment will arrive.  

“Every single forward is different in terms of their characteristics. Michy is different compared to Diego. First of all, he is younger. He can improve a lot, but you can learn a lot staying close to Diego, improving your experience and your skills. For sure having training sessions with great players will improve you.

“In this case I prefer not to put more pressure on the player because it is not good. If I decide to put Michy in the starting XI, he is ready to play. It is not important to talk and put more pressure on. He must do what he knows, what we are doing in the training sessions, and only this. If Michy is here it is because he deserves to be here.”