Antonio Conte insists Chelsea could have dominated Premier League if they’d made two key signings

Antonio Conte has claimed he could have masterminded a dynasty at Chelsea had the club signed Virgil van Dijk and Romelu Lukaku in 2017.

The ex-Blues boss brought instant success to Stamford Bridge having won the top-flight title in his first season in charge.

He also guided Chelsea to the FA Cup final in that 2016/17 campaign, but they lost to Arsenal, before he got his hands on the trophy the following term.

Despite winning two major honours, he was sacked by then-owner Roman Abramovich after Chelsea finished outside of the Champions League places in fifth in 2018.

But if Conte had his way, he could have dominated English football if the Russian billionaire brought in his top targets.

Commenting on his fight with Manchester City for the title, he told The Telegraph: «It’s not easy. [Pep] 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.

“My history says that I always arrived at my clubs in a difficult situation with problems. I always build.

«After my first season at Chelsea, when we won the title, we could have become dominant in England.

»We spoke with Lukaku and Van Dijk, and with those two important players we could have changed the situation.”

Lukaku, who eventually returned to Chelsea in 2021 after winning the Serie A title at Inter Milan alongside Conte, was at Everton at the time.

He had scored 25 Premier League goals in the 2016/17 season, with Manchester United eventually snapping him up for £75million.

As for Van Dijk, he had been starring for