Chelsea’s tenth-placed finish last season was the lowest of the Roman Abramovich era.
With that in mind, it was expected that the Blues’ owner would do whatever it took to back manager Antonio Conte in the transfer market.
Conte did bring in Michy Batshuayi, N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso and David Luiz, but questions now have to be asked about how many of those he actually wanted.
According to the Sun, the 47-year-old was allowed to sign just one of the players on his wishlist, so no wonder he’s been left feeling frustrated by the club’s inconsistent start to the season.
Chelsea have harvested just one point from their last three games, and even that came against lowly Swansea. Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal was a particularly low point, one which has no doubt left Conte fearing for his job considering Abramovich’s notorious lack of patience.
If Kante was the only player brought in at the manager’s request, then he is hoping to have more say in January.
The same source have it that as many as five players could be axed, with Nemanja Matic, Branislav Ivanovic, Cesc Fabregas, Oscar and Gary Cahill the most likely candidates.
The problems at the club clearly run deeper than was first thought, and Abramovich will have to give Conte more control if he’s going to have any chance of arresting their slump.
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