Antonio Conte: Jamie Vardy is a 'really good player' but Chelsea never spoke to Leicester about signing him

Vaishali Bhardwaj13 January 2018

Antonio Conte has insisted that Chelsea were never interested in signing Leicester striker Jamie Vardy.

Vardy, 31, is in contention to play against the Premier League champions at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after recovering from a groin injury.

Standard Sport reported back in December 2015 that Chelsea were interested in signing Vardy to bolster their attacking options following the sacking of former manager Jose Mourinho.

Six months later, and Vardy turned down a move to Chelsea's London rivals Arsenal shortly after he won the Premier League title with Leicester.

With Chelsea set to take on the Foxes in west London on Saturday afternoon, Conte has insisted that Vardy isn't a player he or the Blues ever considered signing although he praised the striker's obvious abilities.

"For sure Vardy is a really good player and I don't like to speak about players of other teams. But in this case, we are not talking about the transfer market," Conte told reporters.

"I appreciate a lot this player because he is a really good player. He played for the [England] national team and is scoring with regularity in this league and is a good player. I am talking about him because you ask me and not [in connection with] the transfer market."

When then asked whether Vardy is a player he ever tried to sign, Conte replied: "No, honestly we didn't speak about him. But I repeat we are talking about a really good player."

Chelsea's current first-choice striker Alvaro Morata has endured a tough time of late in trying to find the back of the net.

The Spaniard enjoyed a strong start to the season following his big-money move from Real Madrid, but has missed a host of chances in recent games against the likes of Arsenal and Stoke.

Morata's only other competitor for a starting spot up front in the Chelsea team is Michy Batshuayi, who has only made seven starts in all competitions this season.

But Conte denied that Morata has become complacent because of the lack of competition at Chelsea, saying: "I think we have two strikers, in this case, and a half because maybe sometimes I use [Eden] Hazard in that position.

"There is the competition [for Morata]. There is Michy Batshuayi to try to create in my mind a bit of doubt and I think there is competition.

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"But, at he same time, don't forget you are talking about two young players and for Morata this is the first full season for him - he is learning a lot from this experience.

"He is learning to deal with these type of situations and if we speak about Michy Batshuayi we are at the same level.

"He has only one season that he played with regularity for Marseille. We are talking about young players. Me and the club know very well this situation and for this reason we must have patience to understand there is a process and we are ready to face this process."

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