05 August, 2017
Hazard who is now recovering from ankle surgery will miss the start of the Blues' Premier League title defence. "The player knew the decision, his agent knew the decision, clearly the lawyer has not been well informed", a club spokesman said on Friday. In this moment, we have a small squad.
"Why? There are many reasons that suggest to me that next season will be very tough - the most hard of my career".
"For sure I don't understand why lawyers are getting involved".
"I hope that I will be an option for those games".
The 28-year-old, his agent Jorge Mendes and Chelsea decided in January that the striker would be leaving the Blues in the summer.
Another challenge has been transfers.
Chelsea have so far signed German defender Antonio Rudiger from Roma, Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, Argentine goalkeeper Wily Caballero and Spanish striker Alvaro Morata for a club record fee.
Barkley has been on the radar of Tottenham Hotspur for a long time, but they now face competition from Chelsea to sign the midfielder.
Conte, whose side begin their Premier League title defence against Burnley on August 12, said: "I haven't great patience". Chelsea and Arsenal are not in the best form because we are in the first part of the season. "The situation is very clear".
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has laughed off suggestions that Barcelona will make a move for Belgian star Eden Hazard to replace Neymar Jr. But if PSG is able to do this, why not?
Brazilian star Neymar is poised to complete a £199million move to France after telling Barca on Wednesday that he wants to leave the club.
"I think only one player is not enough to improve our team". We need more players to improve our squad.
"These are rumours. Eden is very happy to stay with us and to play with us".
"I think that we always must have a dream", he said.
But Nemanja Matic has since been sold to Manchester United, while Diego Costa is also in the middle of negotiating his transfer away from Stamford Bridge.
Both are long-term injury problems for Chelsea and are unlikely to be fit for the start of the Premier League campaign a week later. You must be ready to spend £40m or £50m for a normal player.
"You know very well about Eden, an ankle problem, after a surgery it is right to respect the time needed".
"Now there is another game and we know very well that Arsenal are a strong team and we are expecting a very hard game".
"Friendly games are ended for us, this is an official game, this is the first trophy of the season".