(Reuters) - Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is toying with the idea of asking Ruben Loftus-Cheek to make the positional switch to a striker as the midfielder has all the attributes to succeed up front.
The 20-year-old player, who scored two goals in 17 appearances last campaign, impressed in Chelsea's pre-season win over Austrian side Wolfsberger as he created several chances for team mates and capped off the fine display with a headed goal.
"Every manager has their own idea about a system of play. In this system, with two midfielders, Ruben can play close to the other forward but become a forward when we have the ball," Conte told the club's website (www.chelseafc.com).
"He has the right characteristics to play in this position."
"Ruben is young with great potential. I like him a lot in the position of striker. He can improve a lot because he has great potential, good technique, good personality and he is good one v one."
Conte expected improvement also from 22-year-old Belgian forward Michy Batshuayi who joined from Olympique Marseille on a five-year contract.
"He has trained three days and today I wanted to see if after these three days he understood some tactical aspects.
"He can improve a lot, he can become a strong forward, he is very young but with great talent and I am happy with him."
Conte will begin his tenure in England with a London derby against West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Aug. 15.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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