According to the London Evening Standard, Michy Batshuayi’s showings thus far in pre-season games, coupled with his effort and progress in the training sessions, have changed his fortunes for the better at Chelsea. Just a couple months ago he looked likely to leave this season (on loan), but a strong finish to last season and his continuing good form this pre-season have flipped the narrative.
Batshuayi is starting to convince Conte he is good enough to be back-up striker to Morata at #cfc this season: https://t.co/e9aaFpZfzK
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) July 26, 2017
The 24-year-old has taken to heart head coach Antonio Conte instructions and suggestions, and so now, after a full year of working together, Michy is apparently ready to be truly trusted. Then again, if that couldn’t be the case after all this time working together almost every day, serious questions would indeed have to be asked about Batshuayi and his future at the club.
But, fortunately it looks like that will not have to be the case, with Michy set to stay as the backup striker to Alvaro Morata, but presumably play more often than he did last season when he was supposedly the backup to Diego Costa. Not only do Chelsea have more games this season, there is also the possibility of playing both big men together as we saw in the preseason friendly yesterday against Bayern.
Keeping Michy around should also save Chelsea additional millions, which would’ve otherwise been spent on someone like Fernando Llorente. Chelsea may yet acquire a third (veteran) striker, but that likely won’t happen to the tune of £30m, which is what Swansea’s initial demands were for Llorente.
Moving forward, the duo of Morata and Michy have the potential to become one of the strongest striker duos in the Premier League. Both are still young and can develop together into world class players on the pitch. This seasons should be the first step towards that hopeful future.