Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan has revealed that Italy coach Antonio Conte wants to sign him for Chelsea next season, having tried to lure him to Juventus in the past.
The Belgium midfielder features high up on Conte’s summer shopping list and he told Belgian media that not only is he aware of Conte’s interest, but that he has already spoken to him about a move to the Premier League.
“We’ve talked. He already wanted me at Juve, but I told him that I would never go there,” Nainggolan told Belgian media in France.
“Now he’s trying to convince me to go to Chelsea and we’ve had a chat about it. He’s an interesting person. We’ll see [if I stay at Roma]. I don’t know.”
Conte is not the only person trying to convince the Roma midfielder to move to Stamford Bridge.
“Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard are trying to convince me to go to London with them,” the 28-year-old said. “I know they’re a big club, but I’m not going to get obsessed thinking about it. It’s been ten years that I’ve been linked with a new club each year and yet I’ve only played for three clubs.
“We’ll just have to see what happens. Certainly Conte’s a good coach — you could see that at Juve, where he won, and also at Siena.
“He’s told me what he expects of me and what type of a player I could be for him. It’s important to know that a coach wants you so much. I’m not a player who scores 20 goals a season and provides 20 assists, but he appreciates the silent work that I do.”
The Serie A and Premier League club are understood to have already opened talks over a transfer with Roma’s sporting director Walter Sabatini pushing for a fee in excess of €35 million for the midfielder.
If Nainggolan is persuaded to leave Roma this summer, he says he will only do so “for an improvement under all aspects, not for only minor differences.”
He added: “I wouldn’t leave Italy after 12 years and risk failing over there.”
