Chelsea strengthened their squad considerably well in the summer, as Michy Batshuayi, Marcus Alonso, David Luiz and N’golo Kante were all brought in for hefty transfer fees. Everyone except Belgian striker Batshuayi has cemented their spots in Conte’s XI so far. There was considerable interest in him in the summer from the other top clubs, but Chelsea did well to sneak him in right under the noses of their London neighbors West Ham and Crystal Palace who also had fees agreed with Marseille for his transfer. The player showed huge ambition in joining Chelsea for £33 million.
The transfer came at a time when Diego Costa looked set for a return to Atletico Madrid, but that did not materialize and he stayed put at Chelsea. Not only has he just stayed put and content, but the naturalized Spanish striker has set the league on fire with his 7 goals so far this season. That sees him top the scoring charts. This has somewhat sidelined Batshuayi who has been restricted to a diet of substitute appearances so far.
The Belgian hotshot began the season in promising fashion as he came off the bench to set up a goal for Costa on his league debut. In the following game against Watford, he came on and scored a goal. At the time, it looked like he could challenge Diego Costa for a spot upfront, but in a matter of weeks things have changed drastically and Batshuayi has had to be content with a ‘bit-part’ player status. This is something he won’t be absolutely stoked about as he was a star at Marseille prior to making his move to England.
Batshuayi has all the attributes to be a top footballer. He has strength, pace, heading ability and has often been compared to former Marseille and Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, even though he is shorter than the Ivorian legend. The Belgian transferred to England on the back of a prolific season for Marseille which saw him score 17 league goals. In the season before that, he was less prolific, having scored just 9 goals, but this was his first season outside Belgian football, where he made a name for himself at Standard Liege.
Chelsea manager Conte has recently come out in favor of Batshuayi and praised his abilities. He said that Batshuayi will have to bide his time and do really well to displace Costa from a starting role, which the Spaniard at the moment is assured of. He has a great striker in Diego Costa to learn from. Such has been Batshuayi’s luck that Costa sometimes stays on for the whole game and this leaves Batshuayi sulking on the bench. But he must see this period as a learning curve and ensure he earns his way back into contention for a regular first team spot. Cup games and games against inferior opposition must be the chances for Batshuayi to do well in.
Although this is not quite the role the former Standard Liege man expected, he will have to make do with it for now. Along with also keeping his head in the game. Conte has shown to be tactically expressive and flexible and this means the possibility of Costa and Batshuayi lining up together cannot be ruled out. If a game requires them both to start, Conte won’t be afraid to do it. Batshuayi must wait for his time to shine and patiently get acclimatized to the rigors of the Premier League.