Antonio Conte opens up on the two signings that he most regrets having lost at Chelsea

Former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte ruined the club’s failure to sign both Virgil van Dijk and Romelu Lukaku during his time in office.

The current Inter manager spent two years at Stamford Bridge between 2016 and 2018, winning the Premier League in his first season and the FA Cup in his second.

But Conte believes his Blues team could have dominated English football for some time if the powers that be had managed to land the two players he had requested after winning the title.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Conte said: “I asked for two players and we were very, very close after winning the championship.

“One player was Romelu Lukaku, the second 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%.

“I think maybe we have lost the momentum to take Chelsea to the top and then stay for many years.

“Too bad it didn’t happen and Romelu is proving to Inter that my idea was right and Van Dijk also proved with Liverpool that my idea was right for the club.”

Lukaku ended up joining Manchester United from Everton but struggled to impress Old Trafford before Conte eventually found his man for Inter last year.

And he added: “Surely it would have been a different story if I had been Romelu’s coach.

Romelu is an incredible player and has a lot of room for improvement. In a year at Inter he has had a great improvement because he wants to learn and I think I’m a teacher.

“But he can continue to improve to become one of the best strikers in the world.”