Chelsea news: Antonio Conte vows to 'work every single day' to improve new £32m signing David Luiz

After turning Leonardo Bonucci into one of the world's best defenders at Juventus, Conte is confident he can the same with the controversial Brazilian

Conte is looking to revolutionise Chelsea under his tutelage - and that means whipping Luiz into shape (Getty)

Antonio Conte has vowed to “put his sweat into” improving David Luiz and making Chelsea’s new signing the best defender in the world. Luiz surprisingly returned to Stamford Bridge last week for £32million, and Conte promised to leave no stone unturned trying to get the best out of the enigmatic Brazilian.

Luiz has divided opinion ever since Chelsea first signed him from Benfica almost six years ago, and Jose Mourinho sold him to Paris Saint Germain in 2014. But while Conte admitted he was “surprised” at Luiz’s return, he was full of optimism yesterday about Luiz’s room for improvement. He pointed to the example of Leonardo Bonucci, who grew as a player under Conte’s coaching at Juventus. And he said that at 29, Luiz was at “a fantastic age to become one of the bset defenders in the world”.

It was not the most positive assessment of a new signing ever heard, as Conte readily admitted that Luiz “can improve in defensive situations”. But the Italian was enthusiastic and positive about his ability to help Luiz improve, even now, with Luiz at an age when most players are set in their ways. “He faces life the right way,” said Conte.

Conte’s successes with Juventus and Italy have been built on training ground work, and with Chelsea not playing any European football this season, there will be plenty of time for that this year. Conte sees it as his duty to try and drill his players in the right direction.

“I have a great responsibility to improve him,” Conte said. “If someone thinks that this player loses his concentration during the game, my task is to improve him in that aspect. I'm not afraid of this. I want to work with him. I want to work with my players to improve them. If this happens during the game, I won't be happy.”

This means that Conte is prepared to expend plenty of time and energy working with Luiz, knowing that words alone are not enough to get players to do what he wants. “If you think that the players improve only by looking at them, it's impossible,” he said. “You must work. You have to work, not talk. Sometimes you want to improve your players only by talking. But you need to work on the pitch every single day, for hours. You put your sweat into it. I put my sweat into my players. This is important.”

David Luiz is once more a Blues player - but what can he offer this time round? (Getty)

Conte can point to some very convincing examples of the benefits of his work. Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli are widely recognised as three of the best centre-backs in the world, the foundation of Conte’s Juventus and Italy teams, but it was not always this way.

“It's important to remember when I started at Juventus, with Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli, the defence of Juventus had been conceding a lot of goals,” Conte said. “Before my arrival, many people told me: 'No good, these defenders. No good.' But I started to work with them, I found great commitment and attitude. Through the work, we are now talking about three of the best defenders in the world in Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli. But remember, when we started in that first year at Juventus, it wasn't like that.”

Luiz is a natural ball-player and Conte sees a comparison with Bonucci, who Manchester City and Manchester United both tried to sign this summer. “He has good technique, good personality like Leonardo Bonucci, and he likes to play football,” he said. “He's an important player for this. Also, I find a good potential, physically, like Barzagli.”

This is why Conte is optimistic about improving the player the club have bought for him. “He's a positive guy,” Conte said. “He's always with a smile, and that's good. He faces life the right way. This is important. Then, when we start to work, we work.”