Chelsea arguably have the best midfield in the Premier League at the moment. They have quality players for the first team and also in the depth.
However, Conte wants further reinforcements and recent reports have suggested (via Guillem Balague) that the Blues have agreed personal terms with French international and Monaco star Tiemoue Bakayoko, who is rated around 60 million euros (£52million) (via Foot Mercato).
Bakayoko has been brilliant for the Ligue 1 club in the defensive midfield role and he has been selected in the senior national side for the first time. The 22-year-old DM could make his debut for France against Luxembourg in the World Cup qualification game.
Chelsea already have a strong holding midfield star in the form of Nemanja Matic. The Serbian has been rock solid in center of the park and has worked well with Kante.
Tiemoue has scored a few goals for Monaco but he is mainly responsible for breaking plays and not renowned for creativity up front.
If Bakayoko does end up moving to Stamford Bridge, we can expect him to replace Matic in the starting XI in Conte’s usual 3-4-3 system.
The Italian boss could also utilize a 4-3-3 formation where the likes of Matic, Bakayoko and Kante could all start but that system might be a little too defensive.
Here is how Chelsea will line up with Bakayoko.
3-4-3
4-3-3
Terms Agreed – How Chelsea will Line up with £52million Star
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I will go with 343xi matic bench
We need a very creative midfielder like cesc but also have a great tackling and defensive mentality which his what cesc lacks. We have two good defensive midfielders already, kante and matic.what we need now is killer passes from the middle. Don’t think we need bakayoko now
the guy will be useful in future maybe..but Chelsea needs a good striker to create competition for slacking Diego Costa… and another creative midfielder to help Eden
Conte has always utilized the 3-5-2. That’s where he wants to go. Bakayoko and Kante lying deep, Matic a little more freedom to roam, Costa(?) and Hazard up front, with the wingbacks.