Conte: 'I wanted to sign Lukaku and Van Dijk at Chelsea

 

Conte was keen on Lukaku and Van Dijk and the players were 'very, very close'.

“I asked for two players and we were very, very close after we won the league,” Conte told The Telegraph.

“One player was Romelu Lukaku, the second player was Virgil van Dijk, and these two players were very, very close.

“We were in contact every day and I always said that with these two players we would improve my team by 30 per cent.

“I think maybe we lost the momentum to bring Chelsea at the very top and then to stay for many years.

“It was a pity that it didn’t happen and Romelu is showing with Inter that my idea was right and also Van Dijk has shown with Liverpool that my idea was right for the club.

“For sure, it would have been a different story if I was the coach of Romelu.

“Romelu is an incredible player and he has a lot of space for improvement.

“In one year at Inter, he had a lot of improvement because he wants to learn and I think I am a teacher. But he can continue to improve to become one of the best strikers in the world.”

Lukaku went on to play for Manchester United and Inter while Van Dijk became arguably the best CB in the world at Liverpool.