After a relatively straightforward maiden season in English football, the first cracks have started to appear in Antonio Conte's Chelsea reign. 

Having guided the Blues to the title a year after the disastrous 2015/2016 campaign, the Italian could be forgiven for thinking he'd be given complete control over transfers.

It's clear that isn't the case. Conte told a press conference last week that he wasn't entirely happy with the sale of Nemanja Matic to Manchester United, and his squad looked painfully thin for the 3-2 home defeat to Burnley.

A lot of Premier League managers would love to have the backing of Roman Abramovich. While Chelsea could undoubtedly have done more to bolster their ranks, they have still spent £130million so far this summer. 

Antonio Rudiger has arrived from Roma, Tiemoue Bakayoko has replaced Matic, and Alvaro Morata has come in as a precursor to Diego Costa's departure.

However, Conte still isn't happy, as those transfers have brought about tensions of their own.

Writing for Yahoo Sport, Duncan Castles has suggested that the manager had a number of issues with the Morata deal.

Chelsea's two failings 

Rather than the familiar story that Conte, in fact, wanted Romelu Lukaku, it's claimed that while he does rate Morata, he had serious doubts about spending €65million on him. Real Madrid's asking price was enough to put off United, but Chelsea persevered.

Equally, he felt the club wasted time on the deal, leaving the striker short of fitness - and perhaps explaining why he only started him on the bench against Burnley.

The later it got in the transfer window, the more pressure they were under. As a result, Real were able to push up the price.

Of course, it's now up to the Spanish international to prove him wrong. The 24-year-old's performance, which included a goal and an assist, was about the only positive to take away from Saturday's game

The same source have it that the former Juve and Italy boss' friends think he won't be in charge by the end of the season - but we'll just have to wait and see. When he signed a new deal last month, he declined to extend his contract by any further than the two years he is already committed to.

This is ultimately another worrying sign of Conte's rapidly deteriorating relationship with the board.

Do you think Chelsea overpaid for Morata? Have your say in the comments.