Chelsea's Antonio Conte concedes defeat in Edin Dzeko transfer chase

Vaishali Bhardwaj30 January 2018

Antonio Conte has admitted that Chelsea will not be signing Roma forward Edin Dzeko this month.

Chelsea had been in negotiations with the Serie A side over a double deal for Dzeko and full-back Emerson Palmieri, but it is believed that the move for the former collapsed over his wages and the length of contract that he wanted at Stamford Bridge.

Emerson is still expected to join Chelsea before the close of the transfer window on Wednesday night, but Conte admitted Dzeko will not be coming with the defender to west London.

Speaking to reporters at Cobham on Tuesday, Conte said when asked about Dzeko: "I don't like speaking about players from other teams, but I think he's Roma's player.

"I think he will continue to be Roma's player."

Emerson is due to undergo a medical at Chelsea on Tuesday before completing his move from Roma to the champions.

The 23-year-old, who is being signed as a back-up to left wing-back Marcos Alonso, has not played regularly at Roma due to a serious knee injury that he suffered on the final day of last season.

In his absence, Aleksandar Kolarov has impressed at Roma and Conte conceded that Emerson may not be ready to play straight away at Chelsea once he signs for the club.

When asked about Emerson being set to undergo a medical, Conte replied: "Yes... if you remember, I said that, in case the club decides to send on loan Kenedy, we have two options: to buy another player, or to work with a young player like [Dujon] Sterling, who is a young player and a very good prospect for Chelsea.

"No, I don't remember Palmieri [from his time managing in Italy] because he only came to Italy last season, when he had an important season for Rome.

"Then he had a bad injury. He broke his ligaments.

"Now he's recovering. I don't know if he's ready to play.

"I know that he played only one game in the Italian club against Torino.

"But we are talking about a player of another team in this moment."

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