Antonio Conte was at Cobham training ground for day one of Chelsea's pre-season

Antonio Conte was present at Chelsea's training ground on Saturday as a host of Blues kicked of their pre-season preparations.

Cesc Fabregas, Alvaro Morata and Marcos Alonso were among several Chelsea players snapped at the first session.

It was unclear if Conte was in attendance at Cobham with speculation swirling about his future at the club, but it has now emerged the head coach was present.

Conte was expected to be axed by now, but as it stands the Italian will serve out the remaining year on his contract.

Chelsea are pushing to appoint Maurizio Sarri as their new boss, but have been continually blocked in their attempts to reach a quick conclusion.

Conte is refusing to resign so as not to forfeit a hefty compensation fee, while Napoli are demanding a significant figure from Chelsea to release Sarri.

Despite the confusion, Conte was present at Chelsea's Cobham training ground on Saturday, but did not oversee the medical tests, according to the BBC.

Conte instead held meetings and is fully prepared to begin Chelsea's pre-season on Monday.

Fabregas, Morata and Alonso were joined by team-mates Pedro, Davide Zappacosta, Emerson Palmieri, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley on Saturday.

The players not selected for the World Cup will link up with Chelsea's loan contingent on Monday to being pre-season.

There will be no decisions on transfers within the squad or reserves until after the managerial situation is resolved.

It was reported Conte had told his squad not to return to Cobham until Monday and that Chelsea went against his wishes to call the Blues players back in on Saturday.