David Luiz and Michy Batshuayi can leave Chelsea in January if they wish, says Antonio Conte

Antonio Conte has suggested he will not stand in the way of David Luiz or Michy Batshuayi if either player decides they want to leave Chelsea this month.

But head coach Conte has insisted that Chelsea cannot afford to let anybody go without replacing them, even though he will not be hitting the phones in a bid to get deals across the line during this month’s transfer window.

Central defender Luiz is close to returning from injury, but has dropped behind Andreas Christensen in Conte’s plans since falling out with the Italian earlier in the season.

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Striker Batshuayi has started only two Premier League games this term and Conte has preferred to play Eden Hazard as a ‘false nine’ ahead of the Belgian when Alvaro Morata has been out.

Batshuayi is not unhappy at Chelsea, but wants to play enough to be sure of his place in Belgium’s World Cup squad, while Luiz will not be satisfied with returning from injury to the substitutes’ bench.

“I was a player, I will understand if someone is worried about the World Cup,” said Conte. “I understand it’s very important to keep players very happy to stay here to work with us and I think this must be our priority. To keep the players happy to stay with us, to continue to work with us. At the same time, I was a player and I will understand if someone is thinking in this way (that they need to play more).”

But Conte added: “Our squad is not big and for this reason I think it’s impossible to send on loan one player or to sell one player if we don’t take another player.”

Conte proved that he only likes to work with happy players by selling both Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic in the summer, which is in stark contrast to the manager of Chelsea’s opponents on Wednesday night, Arsene Wenger.

Wenger kept Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil even though the pair will not sign new Arsenal contracts, which, in the case of the Chilean, has caused issues in the dressing-room.

But Conte would prefer not to risk any disquiet behind the scenes if Luiz, Batshuayi, or any other Chelsea player, decides they want to leave Stamford Bridge this month.

Conte said: “I prefer to have players very happy to stay here than to have players that are unhappy because when you are unhappy you transfer this to the other players, to me, to my staff and I don't like this. If we can avoid this, I’d like to avoid this situation.”

Chelsea want to strengthen their attacking and defensive options this month, with Monaco’s Thomas Lemar, Alex Sandro, of Juventus, and Porto’s Alex Telles on their radar, while they have moved to try to beat Tottenham Hotspur to midfielder Ross Barkley.

But Conte will not involve himself personally in negotiations and has recently changed his phone number.

Asked whether or not he will be busy on the telephone this month, Conte replied: “No, I changed the number. Not me, not me. No, no. I think there is maybe this habit here, but I’m not involved in the transfer market. I give my opinion, but the club decides the players they want to buy, to invest in.”

Conte wanted to sign Arsenal contract rebel Sanchez in the summer, but Manchester City are favourites to land the 29-year-old either this month or at the end of the season.

Reaffirming his admiration of Sanchez and his Chile team-mate, 30-year-old Arturo Vidal, Conte said: “You are talking about two big and strong players, top players for their roles. Vidal is one of the best in the world, but Sanchez is the same as a striker.”