Antonio Contea believes Chelsea suffered the consequences of not taking Romelu Lukaku to their hearts and insists he could have been a huge success at Stamford Bridge.
Conte tried to sign the Belgium international in the summer of 2017 when he was still in charge of the west London club, but eventually had to settle for Alvaro Morata.
Lukaku eventually teamed up with Conte at Inter after a disappointing spell at Manchester United and it was his goals that helped the Nerazzuri to the Serie A title.
A £97million return to Chelsea followed, but off to a good start he fell out with Thomas Tuchel after giving a controversial interview that ultimately sealed his fate and began the process of his return to Inter.
Conte is taking his rapidly improving Spurs side to Chelsea on Sunday and the Italian is relieved to not face Lukaku, who could have been a huge hit had he shown more affection from the Stamford Bridge stalwarts.
Conte said: “We are talking about a large amount of money for a player and I think we are talking about a very important striker in the world.
“But sometimes things happen outside of football and I think Romelu lived in Milan for two years and he was the king.
“The fans have shown him a lot of passion and I think he is a man who needs this. And for this reason, I think he wanted to go back to Milan.
“But the signing was certainly a good asset for Chelsea. Then you know very well that there are players who need more time to make an impact. But he was certainly a good asset to Chelsea.
“He has the potential to play in the Premier League. I remember very well when he started playing last season, he played very well and you said in the media that Lukaku is very strong.
‘Anything can happen to lower confidence. Now it’s good for him to play for an important club in Italy to try and regain confidence in himself.
“But we are talking about a very important, a very good striker.”
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