Chelsea manager Antonio Conte frustrated by 'crazy' transfer market as Blues struggle to secure top targets

Simon Johnson27 July 2016

Antonio Conte today revealed his frustration over the 'crazy' transfer market as Chelsea struggle to acquire some of their top targets due to the spiralling cost.

Chelsea have spent £65.1million on Michy Batshuayi and N'Golo Kante so far, but are finding it difficult to secure deals for Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku and Kalidou Koulibaly.

With Manchester United prepared to spend in excess of £100m on Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba and the Serie A club having already paid out £75.3m on Gonzalo Higuain, Conte is worried about prices getting out of control.

Real Madrid are asking for £67m for Morata, Napoli want £50m for Koulibaly, while Everton have put a £75m figure on Lukaku's head.

Speaking at Chelsea's pre-season training base at UCLA today, Conte said: “This season we are seeing a crazy market. It’s incredible.

"When you touch a player it’s very difficult because you must pay a lot of money. I don’t know if this situation can continue.

"It’s very difficult for all the teams to try and buy the players. Now, we are starting to speak about £100m, £120m, £95m, and these prices are incredible.

"But this is football now. It’s important that we must maintain the passion. This is the most important thing, to transfer our passion and transfer it to fans and players."

Conte appeared to suggest that Chelsea won't be held to ransom and are prepared to look elsewhere for cheaper talent.

He added: "The money is important but not everything. It is important for the clubs to reach the right targets, not to spend, because we want to spend money. It’s right to take the player and adapt to our idea of football.”

Meanwhile, Conte told Standard Sport that Nemanja Matic is a key part of his plans for next season and is not for sale at any price.

The Serbia international struggled for form in a Chelsea shirt last term and has been the subject of speculation ever since Kante was bough from Leicester earlier this month.

Juventus are believed to be looking at buying Matic should Pogba's transfer to Manchester United be completed.

RZ Pellets vs Chelsea: In Pictures

1/12

But asked by Standard Sport about whether Chelsea are looking to cash in on Matic, he said: “He is not for sale.

"Nemanja is a very important player for me, he is very important in my idea of football. He knows this and I’m delighted by his attitude and behaviour and I see in him commitment.

"I know with work he can become a fantastic midfielder, one of the best in the world."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT