Chelsea’s Luiz, Alonso unlikely to start at Swansea – Conte

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has indicated that Marcos Alonso and David Luiz might not make their debuts against Swansea on Sunday.

Regardless of that. Conte has given a big praise on the returned Brazilian, who re-joined Chelsea after spending two years at Paris Saint-Germain in France.

File picture of David Luiz.

The Brazil worldwide has signed a three-year deal with the west London side after Chelsea signed the 29-year-old centre-half in a £34m deal from Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain last week.

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville memorably said Luiz looked like he was “being controlled by a 10-year-old in the crowd on a Playstation” after one especially error-strewn display and he was unable to shed that reputation during his time in France.

Conte thinks Luiz is now in the prime of his career and the Italian sees no reason why he can not make further improvements to his game in the coming years.

“I am happy because I saw all the players with good fitness”.

“[Conte] is giving me a lot of confidence and I’m doing very well”, Oscar said.

“I think that David Luiz is 29, a fantastic age for him to become one of the best defenders in the world”.

Luiz trained with his new Chelsea team-mates on Tuesday afternoon as Conte put his Blues players through their paces ahead of their trip to south Wales at the weekend. I am seeing great commitment from him. But I think that David Luiz is a good defender, a good centre-back.

A great defender must be able to play football and defend, but the coach must improve his players. We invested in David and I’m very happy.

“I think that’s the most important thing for me – not only to win, lose or draw”. This is important for me.

“To improve your players and to work”. I’m very pleased for this.

“I am looking forward to it, I will definitely take the time to talk to Antonio and say hello”.

‘This transfer market was very hard for us to reach our targets, but at the last minute, on the last day, there was this situation which was good for me and the club to improve the squad. “For this reason we bought Luiz”. The teams he manages play with his characteristics – they play like he used to play. “For this reason, I think the chance to play at the start is not high”.

And Conte is keen to remain focused on Chelsea, while maintaining an interest in the outcome of the Manchester derby.

“I don’t like to speak about favourites”, he told a news conference. “We know against Swansea it will be very tough”. “Last season showed us that a team that is not the favourite can win the title”.