Eden Hazard will not be leaving Chelsea to join Barcelona as Neymar's replacement, insists Antonio Conte

The Italian has said Hazard is 'very happy' to be playing for Chelsea

Hazard is going nowhere, according to Conte (Getty)

Antonio Conte has insisted that Eden Hazard is “very happy” at Chelsea, playing down rumours Barcelona are lining the Belgian up as a replacement for Neymar.

There have been reports in Spain that have claimed Barcelona will immediately seek to reinvest the £200m they made from the sale of Neymar, with bids for Hazard as well as Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho a possibility.

But Conte has said Chelsea have absolutely no intention of selling Hazard, who has been named in the PFA’s Team of the Year for four of the last five seasons.

“We are trying to buy the players, not to sell them. Otherwise the number is always less and we are in trouble,” Conte said at a press conference on Friday, ahead of the Community Shield match between Chelsea and Arsenal.

“These are rumours. Eden is very happy to stay with us and to start the new season.”

Conte was also asked about Neymar's £200m move to Paris St Germain.

He said: “It's an impressive amount of money, £200m. If PSG is able to do this why not?

“For a normal player now you must be ready to spend £40m, £50m. If you want to buy a top player, you must be ready to spend this money.”

Neymar has moved to PSG for £200m (Getty)

But Chelsea are not planning a similarly outlandish signing anytime soon.

“Now for us, it's very important to try to improve our squad, above all under a numerical aspect. We have a small squad,” he added.

“And I think only one player is not enough to improve our team. We need more players with, not at top level like Neymar, more players to improve our squad, to improve our quality.”