Big changes imminent at Chelsea after FA Cup glory

Finally, what has seemed like a never-ending campaign for the Blues has finished: with a triumph at Wembley.

The questions about what happens next flew through the air, post match in the London Borough of Brent. The answers were in slightly shorter supply.

Antonio Conte, whose final words of the season (and almost certainly those of his tenure too), reminded us that he had won two trophies in two seasons.

The heavier questions about his future were skilfully avoided: Chelsea knew what was expected by him, he insisted; and whatever they wanted back, it was clear that he was not going to change (something he told us multiple times in short succession).

While a Cup final party P45 was always going to be unlikely (not least given the criticism aimed at Manchester United for their own dispatch of Louis van Gaal in 2016), the stamp on the letter is expected to be first class rather than second.

All that was clear from Conte was that his contract remains unbreakable; and that if there was an elephant in the room, then he had better have a trunk stuffed with used notes.

Downstairs, in Wembley's mixed zone, players were leading their own merry dance around the key question of the day.

Eden Hazard had earlier in the week been the first to break cover on Chelsea's summer dealings.

He expected big signings or, it was implicit in his message, he would be off.

And his countryman Thibaut Courtois added an almost identical ultimatum from the pitch, post match.

But where the players mingled with reporters, the sought endorsement for Conte was time and again lacking.

Hazard nicely cut inside from the left when asked if he wanted the Italian to remain in place, and others were equally adept at dodging the tackle.

Chelsea's most skilful player knows this summer that he holds most of the cards.

England's new transfer window is co-terminus with the summer break: starting when football stops; and stopping before it restarts again.

Chelsea, then, need to get all of their work done by 9th August: and if those signings don't meet either Hazard or Courtois' requirements, then there are another three weeks in which the moneyed Spanish giants can heed their call for a rescue mission.

Of course the presence, or otherwise, of a manager makes little difference to whether or not the club will plough on with signings: as we have seen in previous seasons.

But the charm offensive is underway between Chelsea and their Belgians; which is why outward movement on the existing manager should be fairly prompt.

The question of who might replace Conte is one that is less clear in its answer.

And there has to be a belief that when Hazard and Courtois talk about 'signings' they also mean the manager.

The coming months have all the potential to set the course of Chelsea as a club for many a year to come.

And no one will be watching those developments more closely than Hazard.