Antonio Conte has confirmed Michy Batshuayi will be free to leave Chelsea on loan this month if they sign a new striker.
Chelsea are currently locked in talks with Roma about the signing of Edin Dzeko and his arrival would only push Batshuayi further down the pecking order.
Batshuayi has been heavily linked with a loan move away this month and for the first time Conte has confirmed the 24-year-old will be allowed to find regular playing time elsewhere.
“It’s the same as Kenedy,” the London Evening Standard quote Conte as saying. “If arrives another striker, then Batshuayi will go on loan.
“I think he wants to have the opportunity to play with regularity. I think this is right.
“If we stay with the same players from the start of the season, it doesn’t change. One player goes out, one player comes in. One player comes in, one player goes out.
“But, in this case, I don’t want to send away any player. But a lot of time it’s the player saying he prefers to go away to have the possibility to play regularly. Then you have to show you deserve to play every game.”
Batshuayi has failed to win over Conte’s trust since joining from Marseille in a deal worth more than £30m in 2016 and on Saturday made just his fourth league start of the season.
The Belgium international is the only Chelsea player that has scored in all four competitions this season, netting eight goals in the process.
