New Chelsea defender Davide Zappacosta has the quality and versatility to quickly adjust to playing in the Premier League, according to manager Antonio Conte.
The 25-year-old Italian wing-back joined from Torino in the summer transfer window and Conte says his fellow countryman could make his debut in the first game after the international break against Leicester on Saturday.
“Davide played a game against Israel in the national team and showed he is in good physical condition,” Conte said. “He has the ability to adapt very soon.
“Also he worked with me in the national team and knows very well which is my style of football and my ideas, and for this reason it is more simple for him to adapt to our style of football.
“Davide is a good player. He is a young player and for this reason he has a lot of space to improve. He makes good runs during the game and has good quality.”
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Conte said Zappacosta’s arrival provides competition at wing-back for both Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso.
“He is wing-back and usually he prefers to play on the right but can play on the left,” Conte added. “David is ready and you will very soon see his performance.”
Conte also said Zappacosta’s fellow deadline-day signing Danny Drinkwater was “a good buy”, but is not likely to feature against the Foxes.
“He is working well with us this week,” Conte said. “He improves a lot his physical condition and he is in the squad for the Leicester game but I do not know honestly when he will be ready to play.
“We are working with him and we are trying to make him in the best physical condition but it is normal when there is the transfer window and there is the possibility to go to another team, it is not simple.”