Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has told striker Michy Batshuayi to take his chance and impress against West Ham United this evening, Evening Standard reports.
The Belgium international is only bound to make his third start for the Blues this season after signing from Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille on a £33.1m deal during summer’s transfer window.
In the past five weeks Batshuayi has only played 31 minutes in the league for the Blues, but already managed to score one goal and provide an assist for Diego Costa’s winning goal against The Hammers in the opening week of the Premier League.
Conte rates the 23-year-old highly, but tells the striker to step up his game and show this true potential as he prepares to start tonight’s game upfront.
The confidence for Michy must be high because he’s a young player, but for me he can do great improvement because he has great quality in the technical and physical aspects. He can grow a lot.
Michy has great potential and we trust a lot in him. He must continue to work and to exploit the moment that he plays.
He’s working very well in these months and sometimes he plays – he started two games for us – I have full confidence in him and I’m sure that if Michy plays against West Ham, he’ll play a good game.
Costa, who has scored seven goals in nine league games this season, is expected to start from the bench tonight.
The ex-Juventus boss states that the Spaniard’s presence and good form helps out Batshuayi too in developing.
Is he benefiting from training and learning from Costa? For sure.
When you are in a great team and have the possibility to work every day with great players and learn a lot of things, it’s positive for him.
