Fabregas: Feeling great

NEWS MON 24 JUL 2017

Cesc Fabregas has been talking about his relationship with Alvaro Morata as well as his own role in the side.

Morata trained with Antonio Conte’s squad last night in Singapore and could make his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt tomorrow when we take on Bayern Munich in the second match of our tour of Asia.

Fabregas, who has played alongside our new signing for the Spanish national team, believes both he and fellow forward Michy Batshuayi have all the qualities needed to succeed at the highest level.

‘I’ve played with Alvaro and I’ve always had a good understanding with him,’ said Fabregas. ‘He is a striker who has a lot of potential, the same as Michy Batshuayi, to improve. It’s up to them how far they want to go.

‘They are two young strikers who will have to improve as quickly as possible because they are our main strikers and if you are the main strikers for Chelsea, who want to fight for all of the competitions, you need to score a lot of goals.

‘They will be under pressure. If you are a striker of a big team that’s what you live with and they will have to cope with it.’
Fabregas pictured celebrating with Morata after the striker had scored for Spain in a Euro 2016 game against Turkey.
The team have been working well so far during pre-season, as was evident in our display against Arsenal on Saturday in Beijing.

Fabregas impressed in the 3-0 win against his former club and he reflected on last season, when he was a key performer in our title triumph despite not starting as many matches as he been used to previously.

‘Last season, because of the schedule, with no Champions League and the fact we went out early in the League Cup, we were fit for most of the season and had most of the midweeks off,’ he recalled.

‘The manager didn’t have to make a lot of changes and I paid for it, Michy paid for it and Willian paid for it. We just had to keep working and wait for our chance which is what we all did.’

The midfield area has been strengthened ahead of the new campaign with the signing of Tiemoue Bakayoko from Monaco, and Fabregas welcomes the competition for places in the team.

‘I think the manager has said himself that it’s a long season ahead with lots of games and we will need all of the players to be ready for when he needs us,’ he explained.

‘I’ve been competing for 15 seasons. That will not put me down after what happened last season and how I stood up for it. I’m ready for anybody.

‘I feel great, I understand the philosophy of the manager very well and I know what he wants from me. I know what I need to do to help the team.’