Antonio Conte has made his fair share of changes already since taking charge at the Stamford Bridge before the start of the 2016/17 season. Leaving out Fabregas from the first team might seem like one of them. Fabregas made an instantaneous impact since his controversial move from Barcelona to Chelsea in 2014. The Spaniard transformed the club’s style of play and his breathtaking performances especially in the first half of the season allowed Chelsea to clinch the Premier League title at the end of the campaign.
Last season, Chelsea had an absolute nightmare. The team finished in the 10th place and most of their players grossly underperformed. Fabregas was targeted by the fans but he didn’t do much wrong with his 5 goals and 7 assists from deep midfield but he suffered as the defence of the unit crumbled repeatedly under pressure. The problem with Fabregas has been his contribution in the defensive phase. In his first season at Chelsea, an in form Matic and some excellent defensive discipline of Oscar allowed Fabregas to express himself without the headache of doing too much defensively. It resulted in the midfielder directly contributing to 21 goals scored by the Blues (3 goals & 18 assists).
Since Conte has come in, Fabregas has not started a single game so far as the manager realizes his defensive shortcomings. On the other hand, there are very few in this world who can influence the game in its attacking phase from the middle like the former Arsenal star and it was proved yet again when Fabregas slid in a wonderful through for Diego Costa to score the winner against Watford. When it looked like Chelsea were lacking that creativity and invention and are destined to drop two points at Vicarage road, Fabregas provided the spark which made the difference.
Conte has proved in the past how good a tactician he is and it is for this special reason, Fabregas has nothing to worry about despite his minimal involvement in the first team so far this season. The Italian manager just had just took a little look at his options and is keen on changing things in the future. The want for adding central defenders in their ranks is a big indication of the changes that awaits Chelsea fans in the future. Conte is willing to go 3 at the back and stock his midfield where Fabregas is going to be the most vital option centrally.
With the acquisition of N’Golo Kanté in the summer, the Italian has virtually set the perfect stage for Fabregas to operate in a 3 man or a 5 man midfield. Kante’s amazing work rate and unreal ball winning skills would mean the 29 year old Spain international need not worry too much about getting into a defensive mould and can express himself which can bring a huge change in the team’s efficiency in the forward areas. Cesc Fabregas thus is going to be a very important player under Conte and those who are thinking of the midfielder might not be in the thick of things in Conte’s blueprint are very wrong about the situation.
