Chelsea manager Antonio Conte tends to keep his cards close to his chest with regards to the club’s transfer activity, but he has opened up about one particular target.
The Italian coach has told the media that he tried to sign Kyle Walker from Tottenham Hotspur.
The England international ended up joining Manchester City in a deal that could potentially make him the most expensive defender in the world.
When the transfer was finalised earlier this month, The Independent reported that City had paid an initial £50m, which could rise to £53m in add-ons.
Conte has suggested that the Premier League champions could not compete with City financially when it came to Walker.
Chelsea became one of the richest clubs in England when Roman Abramovich took over in 2003, but since then money has filtered into rival clubs, in particular City, who are backed by Abu Dhabi-based billionaires.
The London Evening Standard quotes Conte as saying:
“If you want Walker, you know that Walker is expensive. We tried to buy Walker. Honestly, I think now every single player is expensive. For you to even enquire about one player, he is expensive.
“You go to buy a right-back, a left-back or a central defender and he is expensive. It is very difficult in the transfer market for the teams that need to improve their squads.”
After Conte made it clear that the club missed out on Walker, Chelsea fans took to Twitter to give their reactions to the revelation.
