Antonio Conte has confirmed he hopes to give Ross Barkley his Chelsea debut as quickly as possible.
Chelsea completed a £15m deal with Everton for the 24-year-old on Friday and Conte initially warned fans that they may have to be patient before seeing him in action.
Barkley has missed the entire season with a serious hamstring injury and had only been training with Everton's first team squad for a couple of weeks before completing the switch contract to Stamford Bridge.
But after seeing his side labour to a disappointing 0-0 draw at Norwich in the FA Cup Third Round on Saturday, Conte admits he is looking to involve Barkley soon.
He said: “My hope is to have this player very quickly. On Saturday he started to have a training session with the fitness coach.
"It's important for me to see him, to understand his physical condition, to improve his physical condition, to work with us, into our ideas.
"From Monday I'll see him and then we'll start to prepare a programme, a plan to have him very good.”
Conte bided his time with some of Chelsea's new signings earlier this term, like Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko, after they'd joined the club in the summer with injury issues.
The Italian was keen to make sure the duo were physically ready, as well as tactically adjusted to his system, before giving them an opportunity.
And Conte suggests the same will still apply to Barkley despite his intention to pick him sooner rather than later.
He added: "It will be very important to know him very well. For sure before playing we must be sure that he is into our idea of football. Otherwise it's a problem for him and it's a problem for the rest of the team.
"Ross Barkley is a really good player. First of all we have the necessity to bring him in the best physical condition. I think he can play in midfield, if we play with three midfielders, or number 10 if we play 3-4-3. Ross Barkley is also a creative player.
“I think he has the quality to score more goals. My priority before is to convince the player to work for the team.
"If you are able to work for the team, the team then exalt your characteristics. We are talking about a talented player and we are happy to have him in our squad.”
Barkley earned the last of his England caps in May 2016, while his last involvement in the squad was as an unused substitute during matches against Germany and Lithuania last March.
However, Conte believes Barkley has enough time to force his way into the World Cup plans of England coach Gareth Southgate.
“We are talking about a player with great talent," he said. "Before this bad injury he was with the national team.
"I think we have five months to show he deserves a call with the national team for the World Cup. I hope, because it means he will do very well with us.”