Antonio Conte criticises Chelsea board for sale of Nemanja Matic

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Bengaluru, August 10: Antonio Conte has stated that Nemanja Matic's move to Manchester United was against his will and more new signings are needed at Chelsea to have any chance of defending their Premier League title this season.

Matic concluded a £40 million transfer to Old Trafford towards the end of the last month. He did not travel with Chelsea's pre season squad to China and later made it sure that he wanted to leave the Premier League champions looking for a first-team challenge elsewhere.

The move made him reunite with former manager Jose Mourinho at the Old Trafford and he even started in their first match of the season against Real Madrid in the Super Cup in the 2-1 loss although he put on a marvellous display.

Chelsea's inability to get hold of the player drew criticism from all the supporters and many players like Cahill and Scholes even criticised the choice of the board to release him.

While talking in a recent interview with Sky Sports, the Italian manager Conte also described Matic's move as an incredible misfortune for the club, but stated that he had to accept the player's choice to leave.

"Matic knows very well what I think about him," he said.

"The importance for me about this player, who is a really good player, a top player, very important for our team, but sometimes you must accept this crazy transfer market."

"And sometimes you must accept different decisions. But he is a great loss for us."

Chelsea have made four signings with the likes of Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger and Willy Caballero, but at the same time also let go first team players like Matic, Asmir Begovic, Nathaniel Chalobah, Nathan Ake, John Terry, Kurt Zouma and Ruben Loftus-Cheek either permanently or on loan.

And regarding the current situation in the squad, Conte suggested his side will be in serious trouble in their quest to defend the league title if they do not make proper signings within 31st August.

"Yes, for sure," the Former Juventus manager said when asked if it will be difficult to defend the title this summer without getting any more signings.

"This league is not easy. Six teams are very strong and you must be prepared. I hope to be able to improve our squad. The transfer market is not finished. We want to be competitive and we want to fight for the title again. The club knows my priorities."

"It won't be easy. It's a great challenge for us to try and retain the title, but we are working hard," Conte concluded.