Conte was drafted in to replace Jose Mourinho, who was sacked towards the middle of the 2015-2016 season after a poor title defense.
The Italian coach quickly won the Premier League title for Chelsea in his debut season in England, and wanted to build a dynasty at Stamford Bridge by signing Van Dijk and Lukaku who were then playing for Southampton and Everton respectively.
Conte admitted that failure to secure the services of Van Dijk and Lukaku was one of the many reasons that brought an end to his English adventure after the 2017/2018 season.
The now-Inter Milan manager told The Telegraph: “I asked for two players and we were very, very close after we won the league.
“One player was Romelu Lukaku, the second player was Virgil van Dijk, and these two players were very, very close.
“We were in contact every day and I always said that with these two players we would improve my team by 30 per cent.
“I think maybe we lost the momentum to bring Chelsea at the very top and then to stay for many years.
“It was a pity that it didn’t happen and Romelu is showing with Inter that my idea was right and also Van Dijk has shown with Liverpool that my idea was right for the club.”
