I had to prove Conte wrong to save Chelsea career, says midfielder

Cesc Fabregas has revealed he feared for his Chelsea future when Antonio Conte came to Stamford Bridge but insists he is now a trusted lieutenant of the Italian.

The 30-year-old was heavily expected to leave Chelsea at the start of 2017 after falling down the pecking order at the start of Conte’s reign last season.

AC Milan were heavily linked with the Spaniard at the start of the year, but Fabregas instead opted to knuckle down and win over Conte’s trust.

Conte has since conceded he should have given Fabregas a more prominent role in Chelsea’s title-winning campaign and the Spain international has now hailed his relationship with the 48-year-old.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried,” The Daily Telegraph quote Fabregas as saying ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. “Maybe worried is not exactly the right word, but you can imagine.

“I wasn’t playing, not really part of the manager’s initial plans and at that point you can do two things – just give up and accept you’re not part of the team or the club in the future. Or, what I did, put your head down, be humble, work hard, train hard every day, show him that he’s wrong and that he can trust me and play in this team.

“Every time I had an opportunity I gave my all, I delivered and from then on we started to create a relationship. Now I can say our relationship is fantastic. I understand his philosophy and must say I am very proud of this. Also, I am very happy, I am where I want to be and that’s all down to belief and trust, and hard work.”

Since the start of last season, Chelsea have actually lost a greater proportion of their Premier League matches with Fabregas in the starting XI (20%) compared to when the Spaniard has not featured from the off (10.7%).