Chelsea pulled off one of the shock deals of deadline day when they re-signed Luiz for £34million from Paris Saint-Germain.
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“We needed to have a game plan, the tactics and way we want to play drilled into everyone and everybody buy into it”. I’m very happy when I have a player with a great personality.
“I saw all the players in good fitness – with the players who remained in Cobham we worked very hard”, Conte said.
Luiz and fellow new boy Marcos Alonso are unlikely to start against Swansea tomorrow despite costing Chelsea nearly £60m, because they are still getting used to a new system. “His training method is different to what we had last season and he’s changed both the players’ mentality and the team’s mentality”.
“I see great commitment from him”.
Chelsea spent a good portion of the transfer window looking for a new centre back, with names from Italy such as Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Torino’s Nikola Maksimovic believed to be the team’s primary targets during the last month.
“Luiz is 29, it is a fantastic age for him to become one of the best defenders in the world”.
“I think that the coach must improve his players”.
And, while Conte admitted he was “surprised” at Luiz’s return, he was full of optimism yesterday about the centre-back’s room for improvement.
“Conte would not accept what happened past year at Chelsea, he demands high standards at all times”, said Llorente.
Conte, whose side face Swansea on Sunday, said: ‘We know David can improve in defensive situations, but it’s good and I’m very happy he stays here.
“I like to play football and I like the defenders to play football”.
He added: ‘I think a great defender must be able to play football. “In this squad, there were Cahill and Terry, and sometimes we adapt Branislav Ivanovic in this role”, Conte said. “For this reason, I think the chance to play at the start is not high”.
Hazard’s form dipped in 2015-16, but he has started this season under Conte on fire with two goals in three league games.
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“And I hope it will be this year”.
