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Antonio Conte is in his second season as manager of Chelsea, and one thing the Italian has done is to successfully phase out some of Chelsea’s legendary players for some fresher players without hurting the team’s performance.

Speaking about the team’s transition where he had seen Chelsea greats like John Obi Mikel, Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry depart the club, Conte told the official Chelsea website: “Those players were very important because they transferred to the other players the sense of belonging at this club.

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“We have lost a lot of players who wrote so much history at this club. Now we are trying to build something important with younger players. This season, we brought young players to the squad. Our average age is lower. I think we are doing a really good job.

“We have worked very hard to improve our team and to create a fundamental base that is very important for the present, but especially for the future.

“In this situation, you must work very hard, and at the same time you must have great patience. Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to reach great results in a short time, but you must understand this moment takes time. And this is a really important moment for Chelsea.”