Conte hints Hazard could be Chelsea’s answer up front

Premier League defences could be quaking in their boots at the sight of Eden Hazard once again after new Chelsea manager Antonio Conte hinted he could be deployed as an out-and-out forward this term.

The 25-year-old Belgian appeared to have shaken off his 2016 slump as he scored twice in just 30 minutes during his first action of the Blues preseason campaign on Saturday.

Chelsea went down 3-2 to Real Madrid in front 105,000 supporters at the University of Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, as Conte’s experimental 4-2-4 formation was exposed by Zinedine Zidane’s side in the first half.

But Hazard’s introduction as a forward yielded a double and Conte admits he is a fan of the midfielder in that role.

“Eden Hazard played 30 minutes and he is recovering a good shape,” he said. “I like him in this position, like a forward, and he can be a good solution for us.

“Also playing as a winger. To play as a second forward he must improve his shape, but he is working and he knows his shape can improve a lot in the same way as the other players.”

Meanwhile, with speculation still rife that Diego Costa could be on his way away from Stamford Bridge with Romelu Lukaku coming in for £60m from Everton, Conte refused to rule out the Spaniard’s departure.

He said: “I can say that today Costa is a Chelsea player.

“He didn’t play in these games because of injury and if he solves the injury and if I see in training he’s in good shape, it can be possible to see him in the next game against Milan.

“But I can tell only this. Today Costa is Chelsea’s player. Tomorrow if you ask me if Costa will remain with us, I don’t know.”