Antonio Conte could have changed Liverpool’s recent history after revealing he held talks with a star player.
Over the last few years, Liverpool have been fighting Manchester City at the top of English football.
Under the guidance of Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and the FA Community Shield.
Klopp has also brought in some of the best players on the planet with the likes of Alisson Becker, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk proving to be vital parts of Liverpool’s recent success.
However, things could have been so different, according to former Chelsea boss Conte.
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Conte said he was interested in bringing Van Dijk to Stamford Bridge when he was the manager
He told The Telegraph: “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 (Romelu) Lukaku and (Virgil) van Dijk, and with those two important players we could have changed the situation.”
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Van Dijk eventually joined Liverpool from Southampton for a reported fee of £75 million in 2018.
After playing a big role in the club’s recent success, Van Dijk was appointed Liverpool captain at the start of the 23/24 season after the departures of Jordan Henderson and James Milner.
Van Dijk and the Reds will be back in Premier League action this weekend when they take on Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
Topics: Liverpool, Premier League, Jurgen Klopp, Virgil Van Dijk, Chelsea, Antonio Conte, Transfers
Marcus Chan