Ex-Chelsea manager admits regretting leaving Chelsea after a solitary year at the helm
Antonio Conte says he wanted to sign Virgil van Dijk at Chelsea during his time at the club. The Italian head coach propelled the Blues to the FA Cup and Premier League during his two seasons at the club.
However, Conte’s time at Chelsea didn’t last long, as the Blues performance dropped in the subsequent season and they finished outside the top four which led to the sacking of the former Inter Milan head coach.
But the Italian manager revealed he wanted to sign the current Liverpool centre-back and felt his addition could have made the West Londoners one of the dominant clubs in Europe.
In an exclusive video with The Telegraph, Conte shared he wanted to bring the Dutchman, who was at the time playing at Southampton and said, quoted by Fabrizio Romano:
“After my first season at Chelsea, we spoke with Romelu Lukaku and Virgil van Dijk. I think with those two important players, we could have changed the situation. After the first season, we could have become dominant in England.”
When the Dutch centre-back joined Southampton in 2015 at the time, Conte thought we ought to have recruited him rather than the Saints. As a result of his performance, Van Dijk was eventually signed by Liverpool and became their most valuable asset under manager Jurgen Klopp.
The Dutchman won the Champions League in his debut season at Liverpool and immediately made a statement for the Reds. If we had signed him, things would have been different, and considering that he possesses every trait of a great leader, he might have been the perfect John Terry replacement.
But the owner opted to go against his signing and instead brought in Antonio Rudiger, who was a great signing but took his time to settle in the league and finally became a household name, winning the Champions League in 2021.
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