Football
Liam Twomey, Chelsea correspondent 8y

N'Golo Kante signing gives Chelsea plenty of options - Asmir Begovic

VIENNA -- Asmir Begovic says the signing of N'Golo Kante gives Chelsea crucial options as they look to rebound from the worst season of the Roman Abramovich era.

Chelsea announced the signing of Kante from Leicester City in a reported £30 million deal a matter of hours before starting their preseason schedule with a 2-0 loss to Rapid Vienna at Allianz Stadion.

Speaking after the match, Conte confirmed that Kante was one of his top transfer targets to bolster an underachieving Chelsea squad, and hinted that signing the Frenchman is an important step towards his plan to employ a 4-4-2 or even 4-2-4 system at his new club.

Begovic says he was impressed by Kante's contribution to Leicester's remarkable Premier League title triumph last season, and believes the 25-year-old's arrival will make Conte's task of reviving Chelsea significantly easier.

"He's a big player, a huge player for Leicester last season and he had a good impact for France at the Euros as well," Begovic said of Kante. "It's a player we're looking forward to adding to the team.

"We needed more options. You can never have too deep of a squad so the more options you have, the better. Kante adds a lot to our team and will make us better going forward."

Chelsea's defeat to Rapid was mitigated by the fact that Conte has only been working with his new players on the training pitch since Wednesday, but Begovic says he can already feel the difference in sessions overseen by the Italian.

"It's been great so far," he added. "We're buying into what the manager wants us to do, we're working hard to try and improve and work in a different way. It's going to take a bit of time, it's a process, but so far so good and over time we'll get better.

"It's just different. We're trying to be very disciplined. The work ethic is really strong.

"[The double training sessions] are a part of preseason. We expect to work hard and we were working really hard. It's part of the process. I'm sure we've got another few hard days ahead -- we've got to get our base fitness and it's something that will do us good in the long run."

Begovic is Chelsea's first choice goalkeeper until Thibaut Courtois returns to Chelsea duty following his post-Euro 2016 break, but the Bosnian says Conte has not told him who he will favour when the Premier League season begins next month.

"He hasn't explained too much at all [about the situation], to be honest," Begovic continued. "It's just about working hard and trying to buy into what he wants us to do. I'm sure those decisions and everything else will come further down the line and we'll see what happens.

"Thibaut did well in the Euros. It was unfortunate for Belgium. They obviously wanted to win the tournament with the standards they've set before. He would have been upset to go out in the quarter-finals but he did well, and we're looking forward to having him back with us."

Chelsea travel to the southern Austrian town of Velden on Sunday for a week-long training camp that will include a friendly with WAC RZ Pellets on July 20, before flying to the United States to participate in the International Champions Cup.

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