On Friday, we relayed a story from Tuttosport who claimed that Antonio Conte had refused Roman Abramovich’s gift of bringing Neymar to Chelsea for €180m in the summer in favour of spreading the cost over three or four other players that would benefit the team more.
And, if Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday are to be believed, one of those players is probably Roma’s Radja Nainggolan, whom Conte had already tried to convince to move to Stamford Bridge last summer to no avail.
The Belgium international openly admitted he had spoken to Antonio Conte during the 2016 summer transfer window, but decided to stay in Rome where he was settled and in a club he felt was capable of toppling Juventus’ dominance in Italy.
With that unlikely to be achieved this season, there have been signs the tireless midfielder could have a change of heart in the summer, with a few ‘we will see later’ soundbites being dropped in interviews about his future.
Gazzetta dello Sport claim Chelsea are prepared to once again make the Roma midfielder one of their transfer targets this summer, and it seems that, with the very likely return of Champions League at Stamford Bridge, they might have more chance this time around.
We will have to wait and see, but it certainly won’t be a surprise if we hear about Conte making the soon-to-be 29-year-old his number one target in the coming months.
Nainggolan has been in excellent form for Roma this season after Luciano Spalletti pushed him further up the pitch, scoring 12 goals and picking up four assists in 43 appearances in all competitions this season.
