Antonio Conte: Chelsea won't be held to ransom over Blues' transfer targets

'Crazy market': Antonio Conte believes it is hard to buy players in the current transfer market
Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images
Simon Johnson19 August 2016

Antonio Conte claims Chelsea won't be held to ransom over their transfer targets before the window shuts at the end of the month.

The new Chelsea coach is desperate to buy at least one centre half and another striker to strengthen the squad.

So far he's spent only £65.1m on midfielder N'Golo Kante and forward Michy Batshuayi, but wants more players to help improve their title challenge.

Chelsea are keen to buy centre half Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli and Everton frontman Romelu Lukaku.

But Napoli have already rejected a £42m offer from Chelsea for Koulibaly and are looking to insert a £60m release clause in a new contract.

Meanwhile, Everton have placed a £75m valuation on Lukaku even though he cost just £28m when he left Stamford Bridge two years ago.

Conte has already labelled the transfer market as 'crazy' since officially taking over last month and says Chelsea are prepared to walk away if a deal doesn't feel like value for money.

He explained: "At this moment it's very difficult to buy because if you ask a player of the medium level, they might ask for £55m.

"For this reason, it's a crazy market. It's very difficult to enter the market with these prices and in this condition.

"Am I comfortable to pay over the odds for a player? No. I'm not comfortable. I don't like to pay a lot of money.

"If a player deserves us to pay (lots of) money, then it's right. But for a medium player, it's right to pay the right price, not £20-30m over. That's not right.

"The money is not mine, but I don't like it the same. I don't find it right."

When pressed if Chelsea's intention was to find a right player for the right price, he added: “Yes, but that is why we are waiting for the right situation. We must be patient and wait.

"Not only for Chelsea. I saw also with the other clubs, it's very difficult to have a good market. But now it's a real situation. We must live with this situation in the right way.”

Antonio Conte: First Chelsea Premier League game

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There are just 12 days left to go for Chelsea to complete their business, but Conte is confident they will do just that.

However, he is wary of all the speculation about the incomings and outgoings being an unwelcome distraction to his players, who play at Watford tomorrow.

He said: "I don't like to speak about this transfer policy before an important game for us. I think that to speak about transfer policy is a lack of respect for the players.

"In this moment, I repeat, I am pleased to have these players. They showed me great attitude, great behaviour. I'm delighted to train them every day.

"Now we have these players and we are very happy to work with them. But we have two weeks before the end of the transfer market. If we can improve this squad, we want to improve it.”

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