LONDON, United Kingdom, Jan 10 – Chelsea manager Antonio Conte admits new Liverpool signing Virgil van Dijk was a transfer target for his side but that they couldn’t match the Reds’ bid.
Jurgen Klopp’s team shelled out £75m to prise the highly-rated centre-back away from Southampton, and Conte has revealed that the Blues were also interested in the Dutchman’s talents.
“This is football, this is life,” Conte said, as quoted by the Daily Mail. “For sure he was our target but as you know, this is football.
“We can have a lot of targets but you must be able to reach those targets. The transfer market is not simple for any club.
“Liverpool bought Van Dijk to reinforce their defensive line – and I think Van Dijk is a top defender. And they spent €85million for this player.”
Van Dijk lined up alongside Joel Matip in the heart of the Liverpool defence for their 2-1 victory over Everton in the FA Cup on Friday and also announced his arrival by scoring the winning goal in the 84th minute.