After providing a mixed update on the injury front in his press conference at Cobham today, Antonio Conte spoke about the transfer market and the FA Cup ahead of our fourth round tie with Newcastle this weekend.
We are back in domestic cup action after our Carabao Cup journey ended at the semi-final stage in north London earlier this week. One player who missed that game against Arsenal could return on Sunday, but the boss will have to do without three of his key men when the Magpies visit.
‘Morata and Courtois are out,’ Conte reported.
‘I don’t know how close they are to returning. It’s very difficult to say today how many days they need to come back. Morata has this problem in his back, and Courtois took a kick in his ankle.
‘Willian is out. Today with the doctor he had a scan to evaluate his injury, but I don’t think we are talking about a serious injury.
‘ Fabregas trained today with us, and tomorrow I will check his physical condition. It’s good news for us.’
The line of questioning from the journalists in attendance then turned to the transfer window, which shuts next Wednesday. Did Conte have any new information?
‘As you know very well, the news about the transfer market is for the club. The club will inform you if there is news.
‘I am the coach, and my task is to try to do the best for this club and try to improve my players for this club.
‘As I have said before, and I am repeating every three days, I will be very happy to continue working with my players, and I will be very happy if there are some new players. My mind doesn’t change after only three days.’
Success in different competitions means more matches, and Conte revealed how that pleases his players even if it does make life harder for him.
‘They are happy because they want to play, and they want to play every game. In this case it’s more difficult for the coach, because the players love to play and not have training sessions.
‘Every competition is important,’ Conte added. ‘In the Carabao Cup we tried to get to the final, and we reached the semi-final. Now there is another competition, the FA Cup, and this is a very difficult competition. We will try to get to the next round, but there is an opponent who has the same idea.’
Finally, Conte was asked if Ross Barkley could potentially start on Sunday having made his Blues debut off the bench in midweek.
‘After a bad injury, you need a bit of time to be 100 per cent fit. If we want to accelerate this process, he has to play, not only have training sessions, especially at this moment after the Willian and Morata injuries. We don’t have other options.’