Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi, 22, has publicly hailed new manager Antonio Conte as he continues to settle into life with the Premier League giants.
Batshuayi, who joined the Blues for a transfer fee in excess of £30million pounds midway through this summer's European Championships, has joined up with the first-team squad following his post-tournament break after Belgium were knocked out at the quarter-final stage.
Batshuayi praises Conte and new side
After his first week with the club, he was quoted as saying he has a "perfect relationship with the coach" by the official website. He said that he feels as though he's also "progressing a lot under him [Conte]," which is important to note because as a 22-year-old, there's plenty of room for him to continue developing at a high level in future.
"Training has been very tactical and very physical, it's been on another level. It's been different to what I experienced before [at Marseille] because you have to be 100 per cent concentrated in every session."
Plenty to come from Belgian forward
The 22-year-old, who has been tipped to enjoy an excellent first campaign in England's top flight, will have to meet high expectations after a hefty transfer fee was paid for his services to the Ligue 1 side this summer. With that being said, a settled player is always a happy one, and that will only help relations between himself and his new team-mates.
He has been public about his efforts to learn English at an advanced level, and was quoted by the club's website as saying it'd take him "six or seven months" to master the language properly - as his interviews have mainly been conducted in French.
"Everyone in the group has made me feel at home, and everyone has helped me so much, the players and the backroom staff too. Even people who don’t speak French have tried for me. There is a great atmosphere here."
Having played just under an hour against WAZ RC Pellets in their pre-season friendly, he netted an offside goal and looked promising elsewhere as he steps up his preparation ahead of the forthcoming campaign. They play against Premier League counterparts Liverpool next Thursday in their International Champions Cup fixture, so they'll be hoping for another victory this upcoming week.