Conte: I wanted Lukaku when at Chelsea & Juve, now I can polish this diamond

Antonio Conte hit out at critics of Romelu Lukaku after Inter’s 3-1 win at Napoli. “I always said he was a rough diamond I wanted to work on.”

“I heard people say Lukaku was a donkey… I heard all sorts not even that long ago! It’s easy to speak highly of Lukaku now, but if we look back to a few weeks ago…

“I always said Romelu was a rough diamond that needed work to smooth him out. Lautaro Martinez is the same. These lads are 26 and 22 years old, they are still young.

“I wanted Romelu very strongly when I was at Chelsea, even back at Juventus. I wanted him, now I can get to work on polishing the diamond.”

Conte was asked why he started Alessandro Bastoni in defence rather than Diego Godin.

“I have to make choices, it’s not the first time. Bastoni is 20, so he is our future, but also our present. He plays out from the back very well and does what I ask, but needs to be more determined and aggressive purely as a defender.”