Chelsea boss Antonio Conte tells Michy Batshuayi: Show me you’re better than Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata

Vaishali Bhardwaj20 December 2017

Antonio Conte has told Michy Batshuayi to prove he's better than Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard if he wants to play more for Chelsea.

The striker, who arrived from Marseille for £33.1m in the summer of 2016, has just recovered from a foot injury but still didn't play when first-choice forward Morata was injured last week - with Conte choosing to have Hazard play up front against Huddersfield and Southampton.

Yet Conte insists that Batshuayi still has every chance to break into his first-team plans but must prove in his limited appearances why he deserves to trump Morata and Hazard to a starting spot.

"Michy is coming from an injury. Don't forget this. Michy stopped for maybe two weeks, 18 days, and then he needed to work," Conte told reporters on Friday.

"Now I think it's right for him to start the game against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup. But I repeat: in every game, I have to make the best decision for the team.

"Against Huddersfield we won 3-1 and I think I made the best decision to start with Hazard, Pedro and Willian. It was the same against Southampton. Every game I've played Hazard, Pedro and Willian together, they've won. Last season and this season."

When then asked whether Batshuayi has been frustrated not to play more in what is his second season in England, Conte said: "He has to show me that he's better than Morata, or than Hazard. It's very simple.

"But don't forget that Michy, this season, is playing more than last season. Last season he didn't play. He didn't play and I think this season, if you consider his injury for a month, he had his chance."

In Pictures | Chelsea vs Southampton | 16/12/2017

1/15

Standard Sport reported last week that Batshuayi is hoping to secure a loan move away from Chelsea in January to ensure he doesn't miss out on a place in Roberto Martinez's Belgium side for the World Cup.

And Conte said: "When you are a striker in this crazy market, your valuation is very high only because you are a striker. And then, Michy is a young player. He has to work very hard to improve himself.

"But he's doing this. I'm happy with his behaviour and his commitment. But I have to make the best decision for the team. Otherwise, when we lose, you say to me: 'You are in trouble because you lost', not because I took this decision or that one.

"Sometimes I can make the best decision. Sometimes I make a wrong decision. This is part of my job. But there is only one thing that every single player has to consider: my honesty. When I decide about a player, the last part of the body I see is his head."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in