Manager thinks £75m Manchester United deal stopped his side dominating the Prem

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Antonio Conte feels Chelsea could have ‘dominated’ the Premier League had they not missed out on Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United during the summer of 2017.

The Belgian international has, of course, enjoyed – or should that be endured – two separate spells at Stamford Bridge. But neither coincided with Antonio Conte’s time in charge, top-flight rivals Manchester United winning the race to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton seven years ago, much to the Italian’s obvious disappointment.

Chelsea would bring in Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid instead during the summer of 2017.

And with the Spaniard struggling to settle in England, Conte cannot help but wonder how differently his difficult second season in West London would have panned out had Chelsea succeeded in pursuit of Lukaku.

Manchester United beat Chelsea to Romelu Lukaku

“It’s not easy,” Conte tells The Telegraph, his Chelsea team going from champions to fifth in the space of just 12 months, finishing a staggering 30 points behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

“Guardiola is the best coach in the world. And then when you can match the best coach in the world with a club that can back you and can invest to bring in important players to improve the team every season because they want to stay at the top of the world, then it is very, very difficult to compete at the same level.

“After my first season at Chelsea, when we won the title, we could have become dominant in England. We spoke with (Romelu) Lukaku and (Virgil) van Dijk.

“And, with those two important players, we could have changed the situation.”

Now back in Italy with Roma

While Lukaku, like Morata, struggled to live up to his monstrous price-tag, the powerhouse centre-forward did mark his debut season at Manchester United with an impressive 28 goals in all competitions. Morata, meanwhile, ended with just 15 to his name.

Ironically enough, Lukaku would go on to win a league title under Conte a few years later. The well-travelled number nine enjoyed arguably the best season of his entire career as Conte’s Inter Milan side stormed to the Scudetto in 2021.

Lukaku, who left Man United after just two years, is still – technically speaking – a Chelsea player. But, currently on loan at AS Roma, it would be a surprise if the soon-to-be-31-year-old ever pulls on that blue shirt again. 

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